Carl Frampton setting example for other elite boxers by pursuing tough fights

Carl Frampton isn’t a household name in the U.S., by any stretch. But the Northern Irishman is setting a standard that will make his sport a lot healthier if others follow his lead.

Frampton will challenge Leo Santa Cruz on Saturday in Brooklyn in the main event of a Showtime-televised card at the Barclays Center.

It is a fight that Frampton, who became a unified super bantamweight champ by defeating Scott Quigg in February, didn’t have to take.

That he did should not go unnoticed or unappreciated by fans who have long since been sick and tired of boxers dodging the best fights. Example A, of course, is Canelo Alvarez, who on Sept. 17 at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, will meet not Gennady Golovkin, the opponent fans are desperate to see him fight, but rather lightly regarded Liam “Beefy” Smith.

The 29-year-old Frampton is taking a tough bout in a higher weight class in a foreign country, which will only raise his profile immeasurably should he win.

And have no doubt, Frampton, who is 22-0 with 14 KOs, fully expects to win.

“This is the one that people will talk about for a long time,” Frampton said. “This is one that will create a legacy for me. It will make me a big name in the States, I believe. Santa Cruz is already that. He’s a big name. I know most of the media and the bookies have him the favorite going into the fight, but I’m here to win this fight. When I do, people will stand up and take notice of me.”

Frampton is managed by Hall of Famer Barry McGuigan, who once held the very belt that Frampton is trying to win on Saturday.

McGuigan was 29 fights into what would become a Hall of Fame career in 1986 when he flew to Las Vegas to compete for the first time in the U.S.

McGuigan brought the WBA featherweight title with him, but lost it on June 23, 1986, outdoors at Caesars Palace in searing 110-degree heat. Steve Cruz, a Mexican-American who was a 5-1 underdog, won a unanimous decision in a fight regarded by some as that year’s finest.

But McGuigan said he didn’t seek this fight out of some sort of personal vengeance to get his hands back on the title he lost.

Given that there are now 17 weight classes and four major sanctioning bodies that award title belts, that’s a minimum of 68 potential champions. And that number rises when one considers all the interim champions and the so-called “super champions,” which the WBA recognizes. A super champion in the WBA’s eyes is one who has won more than one sanctioning body title.

McGuigan said it’s not about him or the belt, but rather getting Frampton the best possible fight.

“To be perfectly honest, we’re not sentimental in any way like that,” McGuigan said. “This is a fight against an elite opponent that will get Carl a lot of recognition [in the U.S.] where, right now, he’s not really a household name. He doesn’t have any idiosyncrasies or anything like that. It’s not like he wants to wear the same gloves, or the same trunks, or the same shoes, or any of that.

“It would be nice if he won the featherweight title, and particularly the WBA title, the one that I had, but in reality, it’s just another title, just another fight. We’re past that stuff of Carl chasing titles I won. He’s a different fighter than I was. He just wanted the fight because it should be a good, entertaining fight against a highly regarded guy.”

Though it’s Frampton’s first fight at featherweight, he doesn’t believe he’s outmanned.

Shane McGuigan, Barry’s son and Frampton’s trainer, believes that not having to make the super bantamweight limit of 122 pounds will change Frampton for the good.

In addition, Shane McGuigan’s sense is that Frampton’s talents will emerge against an offensive-oriented fighter like Santa Cruz.

“What I know of Carl is that he’s at his best when he’s under pressure and I think you’ll see a performance from him Saturday reflecting that,” Shane McGuigan said. “I think he’s going to shock a lot of people. The Quigg fight was on Showtime and people in America got to see it, but that style of Quigg’s is cagey. It was an intense fight with lots of feints and a very tactical battle.

“This fight with Leo isn’t going to be a tactical battle at all. It’s going to be a battle of the toughest and a battle of the fittest. The public is going to see Carl’s true colors in this fight and I think they’ll like what they see.”