Wife got me back on track
CARL SAVED BY MISSUS
CARL FRAMPTON needed his wife to shake him back to his senses following his Las Vegas heartbreak.
But he believes the loss to Leo Santa Cruz at the start of the year will make him stronger as he never wants to taste defeat again.
Frampton, 30, looks to get back to winning ways tonight when he faces another Mexican in Andres Gutierrez at the SSE Arena in Belfast.
It is six months since he came up short in a rematch with Santa Cruz, who he beat last July to become WBA featherweight champion.
But he has no intention of adding a second loss to his 24-fight record, saying: “For a full month I didn’t think too much about boxing. I hated that ® feeling of losing. I don’t ever want to feel it again.
“I want to do everything I can to make sure my hand is raised at the end of the fight.
“Christine helped me a lot. I was down in the dumps. I wouldn’t go as far as saying depressed, but I wasn’t myself. She helped give me a shake and sorted me out.
Deflated
“It’s not a nice feeling. I felt deflated, I felt like a let-down. I’m going to do whatever I can to win this fight.
“I have been at the top, I liked it and I want to feel that again.”
Despite that defeat, Frampton’s fans have not turned their backs on him – tickets for the 9,000-seat arena sold out in minutes for his first fight at home since February 2015, even though there is no title on the line.
Just this week Frampton got a reminder of how much of an impact he has had, as he posted a picture online of a card he got from a grateful fan.
The supporter left him a message about the night he won the IBF super-bantamweight title against Kiko Martinez in 2014.
“Someone handed me that card and I didn’t see who,” said Frampton.
“But I met an English guy recently who is now working in Belfast. He flew over for the fight, met some girl, and nine months later a baby was born.
“I like those stories. He’s an English guy who is here, with a missus and a baby. It’s great.”
Frampton weighed in a pound over the 9st featherweight limit. But with no title on the line, he didn’t attempt to sweat it off.