After inking his deal with Al Haymon recently, the expected announcement that IBF 122lb champion Carl Frampton would soon appear on the Premier Boxing Champions brand has arrived, with the Tiger’s Bay man fighting Alejandro Gonzalez Jr in El Paso, Texas on July 18th in the 2nd defence of his title.
Not too much is known about Frampton’s Mexican opponent, who at 22 years of age, has only boxed outside of Mexico the once – yet he will be looking to emulate his father, Alejandro ‘La Cobrita’ Gonzalez who pulled off a similar feat in 1995, when he stunned a then undefeated Kevin Kelley to take the WBC featherweight strap when he was just 21 years old – also in Texas.
This is the first step in a US building project for the champion who realises that in order to chase the big names and fights, he needs to establish a fan base there – ostensibly pressuring WBC champion Leo Santa Cruz – also under Haymon’s wing – into a unification fight.
Of his opponent, Carl said;
“Alejandro Gonzalez Jr is a dangerous Mexican challenger but he has never fought anyone like me and on the 18th July he’s in for a big, big shock.”
“I feel I am the best super bantamweight in the world and I am excited to box in front of a huge television audience in the USA.”
While the fight will be broadcast on CBS in the States, a UK broadcaster has yet to be finalised, although Frampton’s last fight – a sizzling 5th round dismantling of American Chris Avalos – was broadcast on UK terrestrial channel ITV in February. It did numbers in excess of 2 million in the UK and Ireland so it’s not a great stretch to imagine we will soon be seeing “PBC on ITV” in Britain.
Interestingly, the July 18th date clashes with rival Scott Quigg’s WBA title defence against Kiko Martinez.
I’m assuming Frampton/Gonzalez Jr will be an afternoon fight in the States, as the Burns-Figueroa fight recently was – in order to secure prime time in the UK – thus leaving viewers a choice as to which to watch live.
With Quigg-Martinez on subscription service Sky, it’s possible that McGuigan and Haymon have deliberately gone head-to-head with Eddie Hearn, to try and settle the argument as to who really is the bigger draw to UK and world fans.
The Frampton v Quigg fight is one of the most sought after domestic clashes – and with negotiations having broken down recently over contractual minutiae – this feels like something of a power play from Team Cyclone and Barry McGuigan.
Either way, the next step in “The Jackal’s” journey has begun. If you are in America and haven’t heard of Carl Frampton – you soon will do.
Twitter @Undilutedpoison
