Frampton: Santa Cruz only wanted the fight after Gonzalez disaster
He may have been disappointed in the immediate aftermath, but Carl Frampton now feels that his performance against Alejandro Gonzalez Jr has had a positive effect on his career progression.
The Jackal was downed twice in the opening round by the unknown Mexican and was somewhat laboured in a unanimous decision points win.
Before his domestic super fight with Scott Quigg in February, Frampton noted that his performance in the El Paso sun was one of the main catalyst for the PPV clash finally being made.
And the Belfast man believes that his double touch-down at the Don Haskins Centre has led to another fight which he had spent years calling for to no avail.
Frampton was made mandatory to Leo Santa Cruz’s WBC super bantamweight crown in 2013 after a destructive win against Hugo Cazares, however ‘El Terremoto’ elected to defend against questionable opposition before moving up in weight.
Now the pair are finally scheduled to meet next Saturday in New York for Santa Cruz’s WBA featherweight belt, and 29 year old Frampton admits that “to be honest, the Gonzalez fight has been a blessing in disguise.”
“This fight with Santa Cruz I don’t think would happen unless that happened, the Gonzalez fight.”
“The fight with Scott Quigg wouldn’t have happened unless the Gonzalez fight happened.”
Describing his previous struggles to obtain big fights before some Texas chinks appeared in his armour, Frampton outlined how “I’ve been chasing these guys for a long time. I’ve wanted to fight them.”
“I’ve made myself available to Santa Cruz in 2013 I think, and the fight never happened, when he was at 122.”
“But suddenly now all the guys that I’ve been chasing, they want to come and fight me.”
“So that was a blessing in disguise and I’m glad it happened all the fights are happening. This is exactly what I want.”
Recalling his fight last year with El Cobrita, Frampton explained how “I’ve mentioned that I struggled to make the weight and I’m much stronger at this weight division [featherweight].”
“But I don’t think it was a close fight to be honest. I think I won pretty comfortably after the first round.”
“The first round was a terrible round, a disastrous round. But after that I won the fight pretty convincingly.”
