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Carl Frampton v Emmanuel Dominguez OFF after Jackal suffers freak injury


Carl Frampton’s return to the ring this Saturday night has been cancelled after the Belfast featherweight suffered a freak injury yesterday.

‘The Jackal’ was due to box Mexican Emmanuel Dominguez at the Liacouras Center in Philadelphia in his first fight since his unsuccessful challenge of IBF champion Josh Warrington.

Frampton was to headline the Top Rank card in his debut for the outfit, live on ESPN+.

However, the fight is now off after Frampton suffered a freak accident.

The 32-year-old injured his left hand, breaking two bones, when a heavy ornament fell and landed on it.

Whispers of a cancellation have been circulating among those in Irish boxing over the past couple of hours – with a member of Frampton’s team confirming the cancellation to Irish-Boxing.com – and English journalist John Evans has become the first to report publically.

Frampton last fought in December, losing to Warrington in Manchester – a defeat which almost led to his retirement.

Electing to box on, the Tiger’s Bay favourite linked up with Top Rank in what is said to be an extremely lucrative deal and seemed to be on a beel=-line toward WBO champ Oscar Valdez.

Dominguez, who was stopped early by Jordan Gill last year, was seen as little more than a warm-up.

The whole situation had been muddied with the WBO’s ordering of a mandatory defence for Valdez versus Shakur Stevenson and the Mexican then indicated that he would move up in weight. Top Rank boss Bob Arum had suggested that Frampton should follow Valdez to super feather but today’s revelation means an absolute re-evaluation would be needed.

No confirmed details of Frampton’s injury have been made public and his recovery time is not known.

The Ulsterman has been in Philadelphia acclimatising for over two weeks now and finished up sparring on Thursday gone.

The bill in the City of Brotherly love will still go ahead with Jason Sosa versus Haskell Rhodes assuming the headline slot of a card which also features the debut of double Olympic gold medallist Robeisy Ramirez.

An announcement from Frampton’s promoters, Top Rank, is awaited.

dpg

Joe O'Neill

Reporting on Irish boxing the past five years. Work has appeared on irish-boxing.com, Boxing News, the42.ie, and local and national media. Provide live ringside updates, occasional interviews, and special features on the future of Irish boxing. email: joneill6@tcd.ie

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