Carl Frampton created history last night by becoming Ireland's first two-weight world champion since Steve Collins with a stunning win over the previously unbeaten Leo Santa Cruz.
This was Frampton's first fight at this weight since making the upgrade from winning the super-bantamweight title and he more than accounted for himself against the Mexican who was defending his title for a second time last night.
Undaunted by the increase in weight class, Frampton lead on the judges' score cards by the end of the third round, demonstrating the strength of his preparation from his extensive camp in New York, but the title holder held firm against Frampton's shots.
Despite sustaining a hit that left him wobbling momentarily, Cruz found his stride and he almost snatched an undeserved victory in the 11th round with a punishing hit from the right.
But Frampton persevered and was carried through the fatigue of that last round by the resounding roars of supporters in the Barclays Centre.
And the judges ultimately scored the fight in Frampton's favour to hand him a belt that his manager Barry McGuigan held over thirty years ago.
After the fight Frampton proffered some sobering thoughts about his ambitions at this stage of his fighting career.
He said: "I want to be involved in big fights in sell-out arenas. I'm 29 now and approaching 30, you know I'm not the youngest guy in the world anymore so I want big fights and I want a wee bit of security for my family."
"I've made a bit of history and it'll probably sink in a bit more when I get back home. I'm the first Northern Ireland man ever to do it (become a two-weight champion)."
Here's the moment the final verdict was released.
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