Carl Frampton: Won every round against Hughes (leighdawneyphotography.com)
Carl Frampton stopped Kris Hughes in the seventh round to successfully defend his Commonwealth super-bantamweight title at York Hall.
The man from Belfast, who is being guided by Barry McGuigan, won every round against a much taller man who had little to offer in the form of attack.
Frampton, who has been talked up as an opponent for British champion Scott Quigg later this year, showed plenty of variety as he broke down Hughes piece by piece.
His tactics worked from the outset, repeatedly drawing Hughes' right hand lead before countering with a right of his own.
Hughes tried to work behind a long raking jab but when he did come into range he seemed unable to offload a combination likely to trouble the much smaller man.
The 'Jackal' worked the body early in the third with the left hook clearly having an effect on his opponent.
No impact
And the Scot, with a solitary stoppage in 15 previous wins, simply didn't have the power to effect Frampton's work-rate, the Belfast man continuing to dictate the pace in the fourth session.
To his credit Hughes soaked up all the early pressure, hoping for Frampton to tire in the second half of the fight. But with the challenger unable to have much impact with his own shots, the champion continued to pour forward.
However, Hughes proved difficult to catch cleanly and it started to become a frustrating night for the champion, who came into the fight wanting to impress the York Hall crowd.
The Scot came out positively in the seventh, looking to land some stylish combinations, but the finish Frampton was looking for came shortly afterwards, a huge right hand catching the brave challenger flush on the chin, leaving him in no state to continue.
"He was very very tough, he took a lot of hard shots from the start," he told Sky Sports. "After about two rounds I was sinking some body shots into him but he stood up to it well.
"It took something spectacular to get rid of him and I'm happy with the performance.
"I was going to take my time and up the pace when I felt like it and I trained very hard for this and knew I could do 12 rounds flat out.
"I threw the right hand a few seconds before that just missed, I decided to throw it again and it was a perfect shot - I don't think anyone would have stood up to that."
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