Carl Frampton faces Alejandro Gonzalez in stay busy fight on CBS on July 18th in El Paso, Texas

By Boxing News - 06/08/2015 - Comments

frampton4By Scott Gilfoid: IBF super bantamweight champion Carl Frampton (20-0, 14 KOs) will be defending his IBF 122lb strap against little known 2nd tier fighter Alejandro Gonzalez (25-1-2, 15 KOs) on July 18th on CBS on Premier Boxing Champions in El Paso, Texas.

The fight is little more than a record-padding affair and an introduction for American fans to Frampton, who lives and fights out of Northern Ireland. What’s unclear is why a 2nd tier fighter like Gonzalez was picked out for the 28-year-old Frampton instead of a top tier fringe contender.

I mean, you can understand Frampton taking a soft job for a voluntary defense, but at least he should be facing someone with a ranking of No.10 to No.15. What is very hard to understand is why a non-top 15 fighter was picked out for Frampton.

For Frampton, this is arguably the softest opponent he’s had since his fight against Prosper Ankrah three years ago in 2012. Frampton destroyed Ankrah by a 2nd round knockout. I doubt Alejandro Gonzalez will make it past the 1st round unless Frampton carries the guy.

“I am delighted to be defending my title in the USA on July 18 live on CBS against Alejandro Gonzalez Jr.,” Frampton said via the newsletter.co.uk. “I want to become a star in the USA and this is my first step on that journey. Now that my team is working with Al Haymon I am set to defend my title in front of millions of US fight fans on CBS.”

I honestly don’t see the Frampton vs. Gonzalez fight bringing in “millions of U.S fight fans on CBS” like Frampton thinks it will. CBS is a great network, but I don’t think the fight is appealing enough to bring in 1 million fight fans on CBS unless they package it with an actual good fighter that has well-known fighters in competitive matches. Let’s face it; Frampton-Gonzalez is a dreadful mismatch of the first order.

I’d like to see Frampton facing the likes of Guillermo Rigondeaux, Luis Rosas, Victor Terrazaz, Jhonatan Romero, Andres Gutierrez or Jesse Magdaleno. Rigondeaux is the guy that Frampton should be facing rather than taking on some obscure 2nd tier guy that casual boxing fans have ever heard of. Heck, I doubt that even hardcore boxing fans have ever heard of Gonzalez.

“Frampton taking a big step down in competition vs. Gonzalez,” Dan Rafael said on his twitter.

I totally agree with Rafael. This is a major step down in class for Frampton from his last mismatch against Chris Avalos last February, and even that fight was a poor mismatch.

“Alejandro Gonzalez Jr. is a dangerous Mexican challenger but he has never fought anyone like me and on the 18th of July he is in for a big, big shock,” Frampton said.

Did I read Frampton right when he described Gonzalez as “a dangerous Mexican challenger”? I don’t agree at all. The 22-year-old Gonzalez is just a guy who has built up a resume filled with wins over fluff opposition during his five year pro career. What we do know is Gonzalez was beaten last year by journeyman Juan Alberto Rosas by a 9 round technical decision. That’s the high point of Gonzalez’s career being beaten by an obscure journeyman.



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