Night of The Jackal

I'd not been to a big world championship boxing match before but, after last night, I can now say  "done that, bought the tee shirt."

And here it is.

Only a fiver from a street spiv.  I'll probably wear it in bed.

As it accurately points out, the main event was Belfast's Carl Frampton against Bury's Scott Quigg for two versions of the World Super-Bantamweight Championship.

But not all of the action was in ring.  Indeed, far from it.

Spot the Northern Ireland theme, which was hardly a surprise given that 90% of the 20,000-strong crowd seemed to be from the wee country.

There was even Ulster Royalty in attendance in the familiar form of His Excellency Liam Beckett, Emperor of Ballymoney.

A fine man.

My equally-esteemed company for the evening were my old school pals, Pete (below left) and Tommy.

We called it a draw at 4am, leaving enough time for four hours' sleep before breakfast and going our separate ways.

But an outstanding night.

And big congratulations to Carl "The Jackal" Frampton MBE, double champion of the world.