Interview with Carl Frampton ‘I believe I need to teach this lad a bit of manners’

Belfast’s Carl Frampton looks ahead to the first defence of his IBF super-bantamweight world championship against Californian Chris Avalos at the Odyssey Arena tonight.

Q: Your opponent, Chris Avalos (25 wins, two losses), certainly seems to be enjoying the build-up, judging by his confident comments. After winning the title, is Avalos the type of opponent you need now — a bit of a mouth — to get your attention?

A: I think it’s going to be a tough fight. He’s very arrogant. Everything he’s saying, I don’t know if he actually believes it. He’s saying things like ‘it’s going to be an easy fight’, that he’s going to knock me out and claiming I’m not very good. It’s like he’s trying to tell himself that. When he sees me, it’s like he gets frightened, he thinks he has to say all this crap. He’ll probably have a go, I’m sure. I think the crowd will be very, very hostile with some of the stuff he’s said. I think it will be the best atmosphere yet in the Odyssey and he’ll have a go. But that will suit me.

Q: Your career is always, inevitably, linked and compared to that of your manager, Barry McGuigan. This fight feels like you’re becoming a star in your own right. It’s a huge fight for Barry and Cyclone Promotions but it seems you’re ‘stepping out of shadow’, for want of a better phrase?

A: I don’t know… Obviously everyone’s making comparisons between me and Barry and he had an unbelievable career and he beat an amazing champion in (Eusebio) Pedroza and defended the title a couple of times, but we’re very different fighters, and Barry won’t mind me saying that. I don’t mind being compared to him, but we’re very different fighters. I never felt that I was in Barry’s shadow — he knows that I’m a good fighter and I know that he’s an amazing fighter.

Q: You’re already massive in Belfast, and with the UTV/ITV terrestrial TV coverage, you’re likely to go to another level — have you noticed that yet?

A: It’s going to get bigger and better being on terrestrial, ITV/UTV, north and south and the ‘mainland’ UK. I get spotted quite a bit walking about the streets in Belfast and it’s okay, I don’t mind it, they come up and shake your hand. I walk around London and no one has a clue who I am when I’m (over there) training! That might change with the ITV thing.

Q: Do you enjoy the attention?

A: It’s good to go and get photographs taken with people who come out and support you. I don’t mind that, having a chat and shaking people’s hands. The worst is after the fight when everyone’s full of gargle! You come back to the after-party and you can’t sit and relax! You want to sit with your family and have a drink — but I know what it’s like to be drunk, so I can understand where they’re coming from!

Q: Speaking of that, you’re famously strict with your diet as a professional — the only drunken tale I’ve been told is from your amateur days by your old team-mate Phil Sutcliffe Jr about a football arcade game?

A: Oh aye! That’s right, it was with Sutcliffe, I forgot about that. I nearly broke my foot. I must have had a few jars or something! It was in Czech Republic somewhere. You hit the football and see how hard you can kick it. I missed it and hit the big metal bar behind it. My foot swelled up like a bap. I had to say (to Irish head coach Billy Walsh) ‘I dunno what’s happened here, Billy, my foot’s, eh…’ and I got away with it!

Q: Another old amateur team-mate, Andy Lee, recently had a title success and, along with your own, it feels like it’s a renaissance for Irish pro boxing. Is this a particularly exciting time to be a world champion?

A: I think so. Obviously with me and Andy becoming world champions, boxing in Ireland is massive. You see that potentially there’s going to be a couple of more world champions in the UK too. Boxing in the UK and Ireland at the minute is absolutely huge, so I think it’s going to get bigger. If this fight on terrestrial TV gets the numbers that they want to get, and it’s as exciting as they want it to be, I think they’ll come back for more. It’s just about bringing it back to the mainstream. There’s not a better sporting spectacle than an evenly-matched fight.

Q: You seemed frustrated with some TV commentary on Sky for some past fights, in particular your win over Raul Hirales? Is that something in your mind — that you need to go out and make a statement for TV tonight?

A: I know I need to make a statement, I don’t want to be involved in anything boring, but the way Avalos fights, and the way I fight, it’s going to be an exciting fight. The reason behind the Hirales fight being maybe one for the purists was because it was my first 12-rounder… I knew from then on that I could fight at a high pace for 12 rounds, flat-out, and all the fights have been good to watch ever since (four stoppage wins in five fights). I think it’s going to be more of the same. I think, with Avalos, we’ll compliment each other, our styles, and honestly I think he’s going to walk into one and I’ll knock him out.

Q: You’ve recently had a second child, a boy (Frampton and wife Christine recently had a young son, Rossa, and also have a young daughter, Carla). Is this the hardest part of your preparation for the fight, when you’re so close to getting back into your family life and waiting to get the job done?

A: Obviously I’m away a lot [training in London] and get home every second weekend to see the kids, but I’ve seen them quite a bit this week… I’m looking forward to sitting down with my missus and my family straight away after the fight. I’ll take over the night feeds and all that other stuff that goes with it! That’s the most exciting thing about after the fight, I just want to be with them.

Q: Some of your recent interviews in the English media have brought up the topic of your mixed marriage a lot (Frampton is a protestant, his wife Christine is a Catholic). You had to go through that topic with many of us in the Irish media over the past few years and now you’ve got those queries again. Is that frustrating or tedious?

A: I just take it as a given, they’re going to ask me these questions… It sounds a bit repetitive and I don’t want to seem like I’m repeating myself all the time but you just have to get on with it and do it.

Q: Your hopes for the weekend?

A: Obviously a win, and to look exciting on UTV, but I believe I want to teach this lad a bit of manners and I want to knock him out, properly knock him out. I think he’s there to be hit and he’s going to suit me right down to the ground, but it’s going to be exciting while it lasts.