Frampton vs. Hirales this Saturday

By Boxing News - 05/20/2012 - Comments

Image: Frampton vs. Hirales this SaturdayBy Scott Gilfoid: Carl Frampton (13-0, 9 KO’s) will be testing his skills against his first decent opponent in Raul Hirales (16-0-1, 8 KO’s) this Saturday night in a 12 round bout for the vacant IBF Inter-Continental super bantamweight title on the undercard of the Carl Froch vs. Lucian Bute fight at the Nottingham Arena in Nottingham, UK.

Up until now, the 25-year-old Frampton has been matched softly against pretty much lesser opposition and he’s been able to put together an impressive looking record on the surface. It’s only when you look at the types of fighters that the short 5’5″ Frampton has been facing that you realize that he’s been getting spoon fed. Hirales, 28, is a clear step up from the fodder that Frampton has been facing thus far, but Hirales still isn’t any kind of world beater or even close.

For example, in his his last fight, Hirales went life and death with Shawn Nichol (5-10, 5 KO’s), barely beating him by a six round split decision last March. So when I say this is a step up for Frampton, I’m really not saying much because Hirales is still worlds away from world class. He’s just another beatable guy that’s better than the guys that Frampton has been facing.

I just don’t know what’s going to happen to Frampton when he does finally get put in with someone that can actually fight. I shudder at the thought of what would happen to Frampton if he were to be tossed into the ring with WBA super bantamweight champion Guillermo Rigondeaux. It would be like feeding a hungry bear a little rabbit for a morsel. It wouldn’t even be a fight. Rigondeaux is just too damn good, and Frampton is well, he’s Frampton.

I wasn’t impressed with Frampton’s recent win over a badly over-matched Prosper Ankrah last March. Frampton took him out in the 2ns round with a nice finishing rabbit shot. I just don’t know where they dug this guy up to be put in the ring with Frampton. I mean, a ton of Ankrah’s wins were against guys with losing records. To say that he had inflated record is putting it mildly.



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