A Fighter Profile: Carl “The Jackal” Frampton
By Jonathan Oxley
Carl Frampton was looking to move himself in to position for another tilt at a world title shot on Saturday. But sadly a freak accident has forced the postponement of his scheduled fight with Emmanuel Dominguez in Philadelphia.
Frampton will be hoping that when he returns to the ring a victory will place him next in line for another and perhaps his final chance of more world title glory.
Frampton is coming off a defeat in his previous outing against IBF featherweight world champion Josh Warrington in what many hailed as a fight of the year contender.
The genial Irishman will now look to consolidate the loss and regain momentum with his career, a career which has seen him sparkle in numerous epic battles, for example the back to back fights against Leo Santa Cruz in which he won and then subsequently lost the WBA (super) featherweight world title.
He also defeated Kiko Martinez twice in two very entertaining fights, the second win bringing him the IBF world super bantamweight world title. Martinez, a tough and hard-hitting Spaniard, had previously never been knocked down prior to facing “The Jackal.”
Frampton went on to defeat him via TKO in round 9 of their first meeting and then again via unanimous decision in their second meeting.
As a result of these impressive performances he was subsequently nominated for 2014 RTE Sports Person of the Year.
Frampton was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2016 New Year Honours for services to boxing. In February of the same year he went on to face Scott Quigg for Quigg’s WBA super bantamweight world title, “The Jackal” taking the spoils via split decision.
2016 would prove to be a pinnacle year for the Belfast fighter as he defeated Leo Santa Cruz and was fittingly named by Boxing Writers of America and by Ring Magazine as their Fighter of the Year.
Frampton would then face a frustrating couple of years, firstly losing in an epic second contest to Santa Cruz in the January of 2017 and then after chasing a fight with then IBF Champion Lee Selby, the talks led the Irishman to label Selby a “time-waster” and he decided to look elsewhere for a big stadium fight.
Then came the possibility of a fight with Andrés Gutiérrez which would be a WBC featherweight title eliminator.
Uncharacteristically Frampton would fail to make the featherweight limit of 126lbs and disappointingly would negate the possibility of earning a title shot at the WBC belt. The fight subsequently didn’t happen anyway due to an injury sustained by Gutiérrez the day before the fight.
Frampton and the McGuigan’s split soon after and forced him to make changes.
He hired his long-time friend Jamie Moore as trainer and then went on to announce that he would sign with Frank Warren’s Queensbury Promotions and Warren would represent him as his promoter, he also penned an advisory deal with MTK Global.
In 2019 Frampton followed former undisputed heavyweight world champion Tyson Fury to sign a deal in the U.S. with Top Rank and legendary Hall-of-Fame promoter Bob Arum, as he attempts to secure huge fights in America.
“The Jackal” is hoping to regain the kind of form which saw him considered a pound-for-pound great and will be looking for title fights when he makes his return.
Arum has him earmarked for several world title possibilities including contests with WBO champion Jamal Herring and WBC belt holder Miguel Berchelt, both of whom are also signed with Top Rank, as potential opponents for the Belfast man.
If Frampton can secure these fights quickly, he can certainly cement his legacy as one of the best fighters of his generation and add to his collection of world titles.
However, any hopes of gaining another world title shot will likely diminish with another defeat. The late cancellation of Saturday’s fight adds a delay which Frampton can ill afford at this stage of his career. But if Frampton can get back to the fighter he once was, world titles are still very much within his reach.
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