Frampton Promises Career-Best Performance Against Donaire
Carl Frampton believes he may have to produce a career-best performance to overcome Nonito Donaire in their April 21 blockbuster bout in Belfast.
Two-weight World Champion Frampton (24-1, 14KOs) came face to face with four-weight Champion Donaire (38-4, 24KOs) at a press conference at the Europa Hotel today (Wednesday) ahead of their SSE Arena Featherweight showdown, which will be screened live on BT Sport and BoxNation.
With Frampton aiming to book a World Title stadium date at Windsor Park this summer, ‘The Jackal’ has insisted that he considers his Frank Warren-promoted clash against ‘Filipino Flash’ to be a high-risk/high-reward opportunity.
“I need to make sure that I’m going to put in the performance of my career, which it might take to win this fight,” said Frampton.
“I just take it one fight at a time. I don’t know what’s going to happen in the future, but I’m going to do everything I can in training camp and in my preparation for this fight to make sure that I’m ready,” added the Belfast native, who is eyeing a future date against the winner of the upcoming Lee Selby-Josh Warrington IBF World Title fight or whoever emerges from a bout between his old rival Scott Quigg and WBO World Champion Oscar Valdez.
“There’s a lot on the line,” admitted Frampton “But these are all things that are in the future and there’s only one fight that I’m focused on at the minute.
“Nonito Donaire is a future Hall of Famer, a fantastic fighter… I need fights like this to get up for and I need big names.
“Nonito’s an amazing talent, a four-weight World Champion. He can punch and he doesn’t just knock people over, he’s put guys to sleep before. But that gives me wee bit of a fear factor and I think that’s when I’m going to be at my best.”
The April 21 bout will be a significant occasion for Irish boxing as two elite fighters go toe to toe.
Both men were previously recognised as Fighter of the Year by the Ring magazine, ESPN and the Boxing Writers’ Association of America, with Frampton awarded that honour for 2016 while Donaire picked up the same gongs in 2012.
Forty-two-fight veteran Donaire, now 35, remains determined to reclaim World honours and he echoed his opponent’s comments when insisting that Frampton will bring out the best in him.
“We need an opponent we can truly respect and at the same time you have that voice behind you that says, ‘this guy is tough, this guy is good and anything can happen’,” said Donaire.
“It allows the warrior within us to come out and that’s something that we’ll show on April 21st that we do have it.
“One thing’s for sure, and I can see it from looking into Carl’s eyes, we’re both warriors and we’re willing to give it everything we’ve got for this fight. At the moment age is only a number for me because I’m very inspired to be here.”
While Frampton struggled at times during his most recent 10-round points win over Mexican Horacio Garcia last November – in a bout that marked the end of a 10-month lay-off following a number of changes to his team – the Irishman believes that victory will stand to him ahead of his April outing.
“Considering the year I’ve had, looking back on it, it wasn’t a bad performance,” said MTK Global-backed Frampton.
“I think that last fight is going to be a blessing in disguise for me,” added the Belfast man, who explained that Donaire was his No 1 choice as an opponent, despite the fact that the Filipino poses a real threat to his summer fight plans.
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