By Scott Gilfoid: Carl Frampton (13-0, 9 KO’s) will be put in a minor test on Saturday night against Raul Hirales (16-0-1, 8 KO’s) in a fight for the vacant Inter-Continental super bantamweight title at the Nottingham Arena in Nottingham, UK.
If Frampton struggles or god forbid loses the fight, he can pretty much forget about ever making it onto the world scene. As it is, he’s going to have a tough time against Hirales. This isn’t going to be an easy win like the other fodder that has been fed to Frampton his entire career.
Hirales can throw and I’m mildly impressed with what I’ve seen of him. He’s lot more technical than Frampton, who seems to try to barrel over his opposition. That kind of thing may fly right now at the domestic level, but Frampton is going to be in for a world of hurt unless he learns some other ways to win his fights rather than just trying to overpower everybody 24/7.
Frampton was hit a lot by Kris Hughes in their fight earlier in the year, and if Hughes had a little more power, I think he would have won that fight because he showed some impressive skills against the short Frampton.
Frampton is hoping to get a fight against European super bantamweight champion Kiko Martinez in late 2012. I think that fight may be a bridge too far for Frampton because Martinez hits too hard, and is like a better version of Frampton, but with some good defensive skills. However, if Frampton can get past Martinez, he’s hoping to get ranked high enough on the world ranking that he can get a title shot.
I think that would be a big mistake because Frampton’s not in the same class as super bantamweight champions Guillermo Rigondeaux, Nonito Donaire, and Toshiaki Nishioka.
Hirales needs to focus on throwing uppercuts on Saturday night because Frampton’s head will be right there at chest level for most of the fight and he’ll be wide open for uppercuts.
Comments are closed.