By Scott Gilfoid: Carl Frampton (23-1, 14 KOs) will be taking it easy in his next fight in facing 2nd tier non-contender Horacio Garcia (33-3-1, 24 KOs) on November 19 at the SSE Arena in Belfast, Northern Ireland. This will be the first fight for the 30-year-old Framtpon with his new promoter Frank Warren. The Frampton vs. Garcia fight will be televised on BT Sport and BoxNation on November 18.
Frampton, ranked #1 WBC, #3 IBF, #3 WBA and #7 WBO, is trying to get back to winning again after he was beaten by Leo Santa Cruz by a 12-round majority decision earlier this year on January 28 in Las Vegas, Nevada. That was Frampton’s second fight with Santa Cruz, and he arguably lost both to the Mexican American boxer/puncher.
Frampton was given a VERY controversial 12 round majority decision win over Santa Cruz in their first fight on July 30, 2016. Boxing News 24 scored the fight 115-113 for Santa Cruz. Frampton had the New York crowd firmly on his side throughout the fight. It was hard to believe that the fight was held in the U.S, as Santa Cruz should have been the one that the boxing fans were supporting in that fight. That tells you that someone on Frampton’s side tripped up badly in making the mistake of agreeing to fight Frampton in New York. You could see controversy coming from a mile away when this fight was scheduled.
Carl Frampton MBE will face Mexico’s Horacio Garcia in a ten round Featherweight contest on his highly-anticipated Belfast homecoming at the SSE Arena on Saturday 18th November, live on BT Sport and BoxNation.
Frampton will be fighting in his home city of Belfast against the 27-year-old Garcia, who was recently beaten by journeyman Diuhl Olguin (12-7-3, 9 KOs) by an 8 round unanimous decision on July 15. Garcia came back to stop Olguin by a 4h round knockout in the rematch last month on September 15. Never the less, it was not a good sign that Garcia was beaten by such a mediocre fighter. Garcia also has suffered losses in the last 2 years to featherweight contender Joseph Diaz Jr. and Hozumi Hasegawa. Garcia also fought to a 10-round draw against Erik Ruiz (15-5) on May 6 in a failed effort to win the vacant NABF super bantamweight title.
“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 and has only lost to World class opposition, excluding the loss against Olguin. 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.”
Well, I guess it’s important for Frampton to start winning again. I like how he puts a positive spin on facing the 2nd tier fighter Garcia. Let’s be real about this fight though. This is a showcase [read: mismatch] type affair to make Frampton look good in front of his home boxing fans in Belfast. Frampton has looked awful in his last 3 fights against Santa Cruz and Scott Quigg.
Frampton has looked terrible in his last FOUR fights, not just his last 3. Frampton struggled badly against Alejandro Gonzalez Jr. in their fight 2 years ago on July 18, 2015. That was the start of the decline in Frampton. The late Gonzalez Jr. knocked Frampton down twice in round 1, and staggered him in round 9. That was supposed to be a showcase fight for Frampton to look good in front of the U.S boxing fans in El Paso, Texas. Instead, Frampton struggled throughout, and had to rely on his boxing skills to win the fight.
Frampton wanted to slug obviously, but he couldn’t because the young 22-year-old Gonzalez Jr. proved to be a better slugger than him. Since that fight, Frampton has shown deterioration in his last 3 fights against Quigg and Santa Cruz. I fully expect Frampton to beat Horacio Garcia on November 18, but it still won’t be easy for him. Garcia will get his pound of flesh along the way. Frampton is no longer good enough to just show up and trounce the 2nd tier guys. He now must battle hard to get wins.
“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, in a massive fight,” said Frampton’s new promoter Frank Warren.
For Frampton’s sake, he needs to go after one of the more fragile champions at featherweight like Lee Selby or Oscar Valdez when he fights for a world title in 2018. I wouldn’t put Frampton in with WBC 126 lb. champion Gary Russell Jr. or WBA champion Santa Cruz. WBA ‘regular’ champion Abner Mares would be a possibility, but he’s expected to face Santa Cruz in a rematch next year. They’re building up to make that fight happen. I see Mares losing the rematch. Once Mares gets beaten again by Santa Cruz, then there will be no point in Frampton fighting him. That leaves just Valdez or Selby for Frampton to fight. Believe me; if Frampton faces Santa Cruz or Russell Jr., he’ll be sorry he did so, being that those guys are so talented right now, and Frampton is starting to show his age.
A rematch between Frampton and Quigg need to happen sooner or later. I think they should make that fight before Frampton slips a little more. Once he takes another loss, I don’t see the British boxing public wanting to still see a fight between Frampton and Quigg. They need to fight each other round now if possible.
Frampton has changed trainers in letting go Shane McGuigan and signing Jamie Moore as his new coach. I don’t think it matters at this point. Moore could have trained Frampton for Santa Cruz and the results would have been the same. Frampton lost to Santa Cruz because he’s the better fighter than him. It’s not about the trainer. It’s about Frampton. There’s some guys he can beat, but other guys he’ll never beat unless it’s one of those controversial jobs like we saw in his first fight with Santa Cruz last year.