Frampton expects a real battle from ‘warrior’ Garcia

CARL FRAMPTON will face Mexico’s Horacio Garcia in Belfast next month in his first bout since splitting with manager and mentor Barry McGuigan and his Clones Cyclone stable.

Frampton linked up with promoter Frank Warren last month and was already primed to fight at the SSE Arena in his home city on November 18, but his opponent was confirmed yesterday.

Garcia has won 33 of his 37 professional outings and will take on Frampton across 10 rounds at the featherweight limit.

“This is a fight that really excites me,” said Frampton. “Garcia will definitely come and have a go. He’s a typical Mexican warrior, he’s tough and he’s game and he’ll try and put it on me in front of my home crowd.

“He has never been stopped in his career. It will be good to get a fight in against a live opponent before I get one of the big boys in the new year.

“It’s good to be back out in Belfast topping a double world title bill that also features my good friend Paddy Barnes defending his WBO European title.

“I would have been happy to be doing 12 rounds but speaking to my team after the bad year I’ve had and the long lay-off they thought it was only fair to come back with a ten-rounder.”

OLYMPIAN

The three-time Olympian Barnes says he never believed he’d appear on the same bill as his fellow Belfast fighter.

“I never thought I would fight on a Frampton bill because of Cyclone,” said unbeaten European champion Barnes, who is lined up to meet Peruvian Juan Hinostraza in his fourth paid fight in Edinburgh tomorrow night.

“We’ve been friends growing up from no age through boxing and we’re still best mates,” added Barnes, who reckons, tongue-incheek, that the head-to-heads between him and Frampton in the amateurs should be 2-2.

Frank Warren said: “Carl is an Irish boxing legend and to be promoting his first fight back in Belfast since creating history is a huge honour.

“Once he has got a good fight under his belt we will push on to one of the big boys in the new year and then Windsor Park next summer, which is where we want to be with him.”

The Guadalajara native Garcia put together an impressive string of wins early in his career before running into quality Japanese operator Hozumi Hasegawa in 2015, losing on points.

Unbeaten Jamie Conlan, elder brother of two-time Olympian Michael, meets Filipino battler Jerwin Ancajas for the IBF World title on the same card.