Carl Frampton stops Jeremy Parodi in sixth round

Carl Frampton has retained his European Super Bantamweight title by knocking out Jeremy Parodi of France in the sixth round at the Odyssey Arena.

The contest was billed as an IBF world championship eliminator and promoter Barry McGuigan will now be looking to get his fighter a major title contest.

Frampton, 26, was in control from the start, outclassing an opponent beaten just once in 37 previous contests.

Northern Ireland's Frampton has won all of his 17 professional fights.

A composed Frampton was on the front foot from the off, his left jab getting through early on and a couple of combinations troubling his opponent in the opening round.

The home favourite remained on top in rounds two and three, pushing his opponent back at every opportunity.

A solid left hand in the fourth sent Parodi staggering back and, with Frampton targeting a cut above the Frenchman's left eye, a couple of big right hands had him shaken.

A fierce left to the body thrown by Frampton at two minutes 59 seconds of the sixth was too powerful for the Frenchman and he fell to his knees to be counted out.

This was Frampton's first fight since claiming the European crown by beating Kiko Martinez in the ninth round in Belfast in February.

Frustratingly for Frampton, though, Spainiard Martinez won the IBF super-bantamweight title in his next fight and the Belfast man's camp are expected to seek a rematch.

In July, Frampton had to pull out of a contest at Wembley because of an ear injury.

On Saturday's undercard, Ricky Hatton protégé Ryan Burnett, 21, also from Belfast, stopped Reynaldo Cajina of Nicaragua in the second round of their bantamweight contest.

Jamie Conlan was a first-round winner over Argentinean Walter Rojas while Marc McCullough won the vacant Irish featherweight title by beating the experienced Limerick fighter Willie Casey.

Dungiven's Eamonn O'Kane became the new IBF Inter-continental middleweight champion with a points victory over Welsh man Kerry Hope.