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Carl Frampton wants second Windsor Park fight night


It was meant to be a career highlight, a bucket list box ticked off – but Carl Frampton now wants to make a Windsor Park appearance a yearly occurrence.

The Tiger’s Bay featherweight headlined at the Belfast football stadium earlier this month, dominating the unheralded Luke Jackson, and he is now keen to have an even bigger fight at the venue next year.

‘The Jackal’ admitted beforehand that the Jackson fight could be his last at home and conceded afterwards that he will most likely never fight at the SSE Odyssey Arena again.

However, a World title fight at Windsor tickles his fancy and the 31-year-old has promised to do all in his power to bring such a fight back to Belfast next Summer.

Writing in his weekly column for the Sunday Life, Frampton revealed how “that amazing night at Windsor Park last Saturday just makes me long to go back next Summer for another big fight.”

“It [The Jackson fight] could be the last time I ever fight in Belfast, I couldn’t go back to the SSE because it is too small for the fights that I hopefully have coming up for the rest of my career but I would love to come back next Summer and have a world title fight at Windsor – that would be incredible and I’ll try as hard as I can to make it happen.”

WBA champion Leo Santa Cruz has already proven that he is unwilling to come to Belfast, while WBO champion Oscar Valdez’s promoter, Bob Arum, has also seemed to dismiss the idea – while WBC champ Gary Russell Jr seems out of Frampton’s plans due to his inactivity.

An IBF title defence in Windsor could be a runner – and the 23,000 crowd that turned out to see Frampton defeat the relatively unheard of Jackson has proved that a big name opponent isn’t needed due to the ‘event’ nature of a fight card at the football stadium.

Frampton will challenge for the red belt at the end of the year when he takes on champion Josh Warrington at either the Manchester Arena or the O2 Arena in London.

Should he defeat the Leeds fighter, big-money bouts in America look to be on the horizon but Windsor 2019 has marked itself out as a potential alternative.

Frampton described how “the atmosphere was incredible and everybody there really enjoyed themselves – it had a festival atmosphere and I think the rain even helped with that!”

“I said I didn’t want to finish my career without boxing at Windsor and I have to say that when I stood on the ring apron before I entered the ring to face Luke Jackson and looked out at the scene before me it was better than I could ever have imagined.”

“Who wouldn’t want another night like that?”

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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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