A biography for Carl Framptonhasn’t been written yet.
“I was a quiet kid on the streets. The loudmouths would push me around but when I was boxing, I was beating them up and it felt good.”
“I'll respect any man that walks into the ring but people like Eddie Hearn and Joe Gallagher who've never taken a slap in the mouth in their lives shouldn't be disrespectful towards me and other fighters.”
“A loss in boxing is different to any sport. It can set your career back a few years. So I fear losing more than anything.”
“If I could unify my second weight division, that would be huge.”
“I get spotted quite a bit walking about the streets in Belfast and it's okay, I don't mind it, they come up and shake your hand.”
“Boxing is a lonely sport and when you lose it's hard to take and it's hard to get over.”
“I'm not a massive featherweight.”
“I remember going through checkpoints as a kid. It felt normal but, looking back, of course it created tension. People standing with guns, sometimes your car getting searched and being asked where you are going. It changes the atmosphere.”
“I love going home to Belfast on weekend breaks from training.”
“The most important thing in my life is my wife and kids, my family. Boxing is a close second.”
“He still works in the local leisure centre and he's the union rep and a shop steward. Dad is very grounded. He's not bumptious or brash.”
“That retirement plan I had, getting out by 32, may still be the case even though at the minute it's in the back of my mind. It's important to get out at the right time.”
“It's hard to believe I was just seven when I started boxing but I've put everything of myself into it.”
“I was seven or eight and a kid who was easily picked on. Not bullied but other kids would've told me what to do in the streets. I was very shy. I used to put my head down.”
“I was always quiet and even timid.”
“There's not a better sporting spectacle than an evenly-matched fight.”
“If you worry about hurting your opponent you are probably in the wrong game, because it can happen. I wouldn't wish ill on anyone. I wanted to knock him out, not hurt him badly.”
“You're just taking punishment every day, getting hit all the time. That's something we're going to cut back on. I'll train hard but the sparring will be cut in half.”
“As a kid I could be in New Lodge in a minute. I'd go down our street, turn right and I was there.”
“There was nothing special about me; there are boxers in Belfast who are more skilled but I had a bit between my teeth that drives me on.”