Former two-weight world champion Carl Frampton is aiming to win Josh Warrington this Saturday night in Leeds over Kiko Martinez.
Martinez defended her first featherweight IBF title against the former champion in a rematch from their fight in 2017. Frampton, who won the world titles in super bantamweight and featherweight, knows one or two things about the fact that Martinez fought him twice during his decorated career.
In 2013 at Belfast’s Odyssey Arena, ‘The Jackal’ stopped La Sensacion for nine rounds to become the European super bantamweight champion. A little more than a year later in the city’s Titanic neighborhood, Frampton overtook the Spaniard to become the IBF world champion in a night to remember for Irish boxing.
Talking to Ryan Elliott of Boxing Social Recently, Frampton said he was delighted for Martinez when he beat Kid Galahad last November to claim the IBF featherweight title.
“I have a lot of respect for Kiko. Despite the language barrier between us, we always use the old Google Translate to communicate on social media. I am very happy for him. He’s a real valet for boxing. He deserves it.
“He took part in tough battles. He traveled the world, he was not well supported in Spain, he accomplished it all thanks to the support of himself, himself and his team. ”
Discussing this weekend’s clash, Frampton said: “It was an uphill fight for both boys. We still don’t know how much of the Lara battle took out Josh Warrington as the second fight was stopped early. The first fight he can stay there longer than he should and that can affect you. He must have been the favorite in the war but the war they had been was very, very close. I just like Josh but it was a good match. ”
Photo: Mark Robinson / Matchroom Boxing
