http://www.livefight.com/news.php?news_ ... =2014&m=04
01.04.14
By @shaun_brown
His super-bantamweight odyssey is almost complete. It was an adventure that began nearly six years ago at Liverpool’s Olympia and has taken Carl Frampton (17-0, 12 KOs) to Middlesbrough, London, Huddersfield, Cardiff, Sheffield, Nottingham and most importantly back to Northern Ireland on several occasions.
The final target for ‘The Jackal’ is WBC super-bantamweight champion Leo Santa Cruz and whether the hit takes place in a Belfast bear pit or on the Vegas strip is irrelevant. Frampton’s knock at the champion’s door grows louder by the week. It’s when not if. This is destiny, he says.
“I don’t want it to sound like I’m talking s**t here but I feel if you talk about destiny then this is going to happen. I’ve been involved in the game for so long. I’m improving all the time. I started boxing when I was 7 and I had the same dream then as I do now. It’s right on my doorstep now. It’s a wee bit poetic. I genuinely believe destiny is going to happen and I feel like it has to happen,” he told Livefight last week.
His thoughts matter little to his next opponent Hugo Cazares (40-7-2, 27 KOs). The 36-year-old veteran Mexican stands in the way of Frampton and destiny. The pair lock horns this Friday night at Belfast’s Odyssey Arena in a final eliminator to determine who faces Santa Cruz.
Cazares is a two-weight world champion. He’s no mug. And he isn’t coming over to his opponent’s back yard to make up the numbers. The power punching Frampton is well aware of that and the fact that he hasn’t been stopped by an opponent since 1999.
“I don’t know what I was doing in 1999, my Ma’ was still wiping my nose,” Frampton remarked.
“He’s a good fighter. I think it’s going to be my toughest fight. He’s been a world champion before. He’s one position in front of me in the WBC rankings. He has the same dreams as me to fight for another world title and I want to fight for my first. He sees a big showdown with [Leo] Santa Cruz on the horizon likewise so do I. He’s well up for it. I’ve seen some pictures of him in training and he looks in good shape. I think it’ll be a tricky fight, my hardest fight so far but I’ll be looking to do a good job and get rid of him and be impressive doing it but it’s not going to be easy. He’s travelled as well. He’s won away in Japan. He’s probably been involved in hostile environments so he’s used to it. I think Belfast is going to be different to anything he’s faced before. I don’t think it will shock him like it did Jeremy Parodi for example.
“If I get the stoppage it’s going to look good. If I win on points as well it doesn’t matter as long as it’s exciting. If I see an opening in the first round I’m not going to take the foot off the pedal. I won’t be thinking about rounds then, I’ll be getting rid of him.”
That’ll be music to the ears of the faithful Frampton fans which is a legion that is growing with every memorable night that takes place in Belfast. People want to be a part
of this, they want to tell their grandkids ‘I was there the night he beat…’
“I think it’s going to get bigger and better every time,” predicted Frampton.
“The [Cazares] fight sold-out 9,000 seats. 4,500 in the first day which is great. The undercard wasn’t announced then, that was just the one fight. There’s a real boxing buzz around the city. If I get a fight in Belfast I go over the week before and train there and you always get people coming up and shaking your hand. The press are very good to me back home too. I enjoy it. I like it. It’s better people talking to me than not talking to me.”
Leo Santa Cruz has been doing a bit of talking too. The man with the green belt has had nothing but respect for Frampton and has talked often about facing him in defence of his title. It doesn’t matter to ‘Teremoto’ where the fight happens. The unbeaten champion just wants to be involved in crowd-pleasing fights and knows this is one of them.
“I’m in a position where I’ve been calling the champion out but he’s also been calling me out which is great, said Frampton. “Usually the champion doesn’t pay attention. I think he wants the fight. He wants to be involved in crowd-pleasing fights. I think it’d be a proper humdinger. He kept up his end of the bargain beating Mijares so now I’ve got to do my bit against Cazares.”
And Frampton admits to letting his mind wander towards dreaming about that showdown…
“I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t thinking about it a little bit. Don’t get me wrong on fight night my mind will be on Cazares and Cazares only. He and Santa Cruz are completely different fighters. Every single thing in training has been tailored around how to fight Cazares. He’s the man we’re thinking about it but the carrot’s dangling in front of me.”
By the end of 2014, Frampton doesn’t hope to be world champion he EXPECTS it. There aren’t many straight forward options at 126lbs but a win over Cazares then Santa Cruz could lead to fights with Rigondeaux and, whisper it, Scott Quigg.
“The fight that people want to see me in now is with Santa Cruz. Quigg hasn’t been mentioned that much in interviews. I’d tell a lie if I said that’s a fight I’m not interested in. I really want that fight because some people think Quigg is the best in the UK and I think different so I’d like to prove that. We’ve tried to make that fight a number of times and we can’t afford to wait for it to happen. I can’t put my career on hold. If I beat Cazares then Santa Cruz and become WBC world champion then I’d be happy to have a first defence Scott Quigg, put it that way.
Frampton even sees a future at featherweight. Win the world title at super-bantamweight, make a couple of defences and move up, he says.
“I haven’t won my first world title yet but how amazing would it be a two-weight world champion?”
“I don’t think there’s an Irishman that’s ever done that. [Writer's Note: Steve Collins achieved the feat in the 1990s] I haven’t got the height to go up too many divisions but I’ve got the frame and I’m strong enough to go up to featherweight at least. It’s something I’ve thought about. First and foremost I want to win a world title at super bantamweight.”
