By Keith Idec

Luke Jackson’s technical knockout defeat to Carl Frampton was even more painful than it looked.

The Australian featherweight contender revealed through his Instagram account Wednesday that he suffered a ruptured eardrum in each ear during his one-sided, ninth-round TKO loss to Frampton on Saturday night in Belfast, Northern Ireland. A recovering Jackson also posted a picture of his face, in which his right eye was swollen shut.

In a message that accompanied that gruesome image, Jackson wrote, “You don’t play boxing! Two perforated ear drums – left ear in round 3, right ear in round 6 and then the body shot in round 8. I wanted to finish the fight, but I respect my coach and my team’s decision. I’ll live to fight another day.”

Frampton (26-1, 15 KOs), who won the WBO interim featherweight title by beating Jackson on Saturday night, was by far the best opponent Jackson had faced during his five-year pro career. Jackson was unbeaten, but untested and unproven prior to facing Frampton in a fight that drew a capacity crowd of roughly 25,000 to Windsor Park, an outdoor soccer stadium in Frampton’s hometown.

The 31-year-old Frampton, who has lost only a majority decision to WBA “super” featherweight champion Leo Santa Cruz, dominated Jackson (16-1, 9 KOs) before flooring with a left hook to the body in the eighth round. That resulted in the first knockdown of Jackson’s career.

The tough challenger got up and finished the eighth round, but his corner men threw in the towel to stop their scheduled 12-round, 126-pound title fight as Frampton continued to beat him up during the ninth round. Referee Terry O’Connor stopped the action at 1:21 of the ninth round.

Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for krikya360.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.