Why Carl Frampton is determined to be his family’s Christmas No1 with a world title win
ALTHOUGH ‘At Home with the Framptons’ may have a certain ring to it, Carl Frampton insists he is not ready to swap boxing for a permanent life in reality TV just yet.
The 31-year-old former twoweight world champion took centre stage in this week’s BBC documentary that told the story of his last fight, a ninth-round stoppage of Luke Jackson at Windsor Park last month.
The cameras could be on his tail again as he prepares to challenge Josh Warrington for his IBF featherweight title at the Manchester Arena on December 22 in what Frampton suggests could be the penultimate fight of his illustrious nine-year career.
During one scene in the documentary, Frampton told his wife Christine that he could be retired within the next 12 months.
The Jackal joked that he would be happy settling into a life as house husband to their two young children, Carla and Rossa, with a little bit of five-aside football to keep him active.
The Tiger’s Bay native, who is one of Northern Ireland’s biggest sports stars, revealed that talks of further reality television opportunities are already underway but that he still has much to achieve in boxing.
“People keep talking about it, it would be funny,” he said when it was suggested that he would make a good Ozzie figure in a programme similar to ‘The Osbournes’.
“My wife Christine is so funny, she got my phone at a 50 Cent gig the other night and texted a load of my mates pretending to be me.
“I cannot tell you what she said but I had to apologise to a few people. She is funny.
“There is already talk of another doc as it shows people another side of things. Both my kids are funny, my wee man was not in it that much and he is very funny as well.
“But I am not thinking about retirement yet, I am enjoying boxing so I will keep going. It would just be nice to go out on top because not many people get it right.
“It would be good to go out on a big win rather than someone who is chasing a win. Look at how Ricky Hatton ended or Roy Jones.
“A good year would be War- rington and then Leo Santa Cruz. Beating Warrington would not be a big enough win for me to retire on. I would like to do Windsor Park again in the summer. We will see.”
On the prospect of fighting just three days before Christmas, live on BT pay-per-view, Frampton added: “It will be a depressing Christmas if I get beat but I believe I will win it convincingly. I have beaten a number of opponents better than Josh Warrington.
“It would be a bad Christmas if I lost but I have a life outside of boxing. I have two kids and a wife and I will enjoy Christmas no matter what — but it will be better as world champion.”
Warrington, meanwhile, is flying following his career-best performance to win the title from Lee Selby at Elland Road in May.
The 27-year-old, therefore, is yet to consider a life beyond boxing and says that could make the crucial difference in Manchester.
The father-of-two said: “If he’s in there and it’s hard and he’s hurting he will be thinking — ‘oh hell, my pipe and slippers are only around the corner’.
“But that’s where I will go up levels — I’m going in there willing to die. “It’s a horrible thing to say because tragedy does happen but for me, it’s about getting my hand raised
“From fight to fight sometimes I live like I’m in a coma but when fight night comes around I wake up and I’m alive and that’s all that matters.
“I don’t see Sunday — I see the Saturday, fight night, and that is all that matters. I will carry on until my hand is raised, that’s how it is for me. When we get into those later stages we will see how mentally strong he is then — it’s down to me to take him there. I’ve got 36 minutes.”