Sport

Carl Frampton with golden opportunity to conquer the US

Belfast super bantamweight takes on Mexican Alejandro Gonzales Jr in Texas

Barry McGuigan and Carl Frampton ahead of Saturday night’s fight. Photograph: Jorge Salgado/Inpho
Barry McGuigan and Carl Frampton ahead of Saturday night’s fight. Photograph: Jorge Salgado/Inpho
Joe Callaghan at El Paso
Fri Jul 17 2015 - 15:00

In the frontier lands of West Texas, Carl Frampton will begin the next phase of his exhilarating journey on Saturday night when the IBF world champion makes his long-awaited debut in front of an American audience.

The undefeated Belfast super bantamweight takes on Mexican prospect Alejandro Gonzales Jr at the Don Haskins Centre in El Paso. Mere miles from the border - El Paso and Ciudad Juarez are in effect one city split by political boundaries - Frampton is sure to face a partisan environment.

But eschewing more popular launchpads like New York or Boston for hostile Texan territory was worth the risk, given that Saturday night’s fight will be beamed into every US household on network TV as part of the upstart Premier Boxing Champions promotion.

Such a golden opportunity to impress his new audience brings pressure but Frampton, with 14 knock-outs from 20 career wins, is confident of putting on a timely show in a division that is packed with talent.

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“Over here of course there’s a need to go out there and impress. I don’t want to go out there and just labour along. I want to knock this guy out,” said the 28-year-old this week. “Growing up the dream wasn’t America, the dream was to win be a champion of the world. But I’ve reached that dream and there’s new dreams for me, new goals.”

Barry McGuigan has noted how significant the interest has already been in his protege, a red-hot favourite to stop the talented but ultimately limited Gonzalez Jr (25-1-2) within the distance. Saturday's fight is part of a day-night double bill in El Paso with Julio Cesar Chavez Jr headlining the latter half. In a town where his father borders on deity, the presence of Chavez Jr could have stolen Frampton's thunder. But it hasn't been so.

“Chavez Snr is obviously a huge draw here and his son is a big name too,” said McGuigan. “What’s interesting is the American media and their reaction to Carl. We had a conference call on Tuesday and 90 per cent of the questions, the interest, was in Carl. And they haven’t even seen him yet.

“He’s just a baby. He’s already taken Ireland, the UK, Europe by storm. He is perfectly suited to America. He’s humble. He’s a good-looking kid who’s a delightful fighter to watch. It’s going to be a delight watching him conquer the US now too.”