HOMETOWN HERO
Frampton returns to Belfast, writes
The wildly popular Frampton returns to Belfast to face Andres Gutierrez
CARL FRAMPTON has not fought in his hometown of Belfast for two-and-a-half years. In that time, he has unified the super-bantamweight division and moved up to featherweight to win the WBA title and become Northern Ireland’s first ever two-weight world champion.
As such, his already enormous popularity in Belfast has swelled even more, and so his upcoming fight with Andres Gutierrez at the SSE Arena on Saturday ( July 29) is a hot ticket. It also marks a return for Frampton to terrestrial television. His last fight in Belfast, a fifth round destruction of Chris Avalos at the Odyssey Arena, was aired on ITV, and Channel 5 will broadcast Frampton’s fight with Gutierrez in the UK.
After wrecking Avalos, Frampton travelled to Texas and rose from the canvas twice to outpoint Alejandro Gonzalez Jnr in defence of the IBF superbantamweight title. He then went to Manchester to fight Bury’s Scott Quigg, earning a decision over the WBA champion in a phoney war. Frampton followed that up by heading back to America, this time Brooklyn in New York, to take on reigning featherweight champion Leo Santa Cruz. In an instant classic, “The Jackal” handed Leo his first loss and made history. Those achievements earned Frampton the Boxing News Fighter of the Year award – an accolade he also received from every respectable boxing media outlet. Not only had he upset the odds against Santa Cruz, he had won world titles on the road at two different weights against