IBF World Super Bantamweight champion Carl Frampton faces Chris Avalos at the Odyssey Arena in Belfast, Northern Ireland tonight (Saturday, February 28, 2015). This will be the first title defense for Frampton, who just won the title in September when he took a unanimous decision over Spaniard Kiko Martinez. Heading into this fight, Frampton finds himself a massive (-1100) favorite over Avalos, who is returning at (+700). Avalos is 25 years old and he brings a solid (25-2) record to the table fighting mainly in the western United States. In his lone fight outside the United States, Avalos defeated Yasutaka Ishimoto in Macao back in May of 2014. That fight was considered an IBF title eliminator bout, so the eighth round stoppage gave him the mandatory defense he is getting here against Frampton. Despite having good experience, holding several regional titles in the build-up to this title shot, Avalos has never had to fight in an atmosphere like he will face against Frampton. Frampton, who goes by the nickname ‘the Jackal”, is (19-0) and he is part of a vanguard of British Super Bantamweights that have put more attention and built more interest in the weight class than Britain has seen in years. The WBA title holder is Britain’s Scott Quigg, who is a perfect (30-0) and two years younger than Frampton. The idea of the two meeting for a unification bout has the potential to fill one of England’s biggest venues both men can maintain their unbeaten records while the promoters hash out the contracts. Quigg has not booked a fight since defeating Hidenori Otake in November of 2014, as he seems to be waiting to see how Frampton comes through the fight with Avalos. That all-British super fight between Frampton and Quigg could go down at some point his summer. Frampton does have a lot to lose in this fight, as the match-up with Quigg would easily be the biggest payday of his life. Frampton is well handled, and his people are unlikely to let the talk of the Quigg fight cause him to look past Avalos, whom he technically outclasses. He has good power, earning thirteen stoppages in his nineteen wins, but he failed to stop Martinez in their title bout, though he had stopped Martinez in the ninth in an earlier meeting. For his part, Avalos has nineteen stoppage wins in his twenty five career “W”s and he has a reputation for bringing the fight. There would be no better way for Frampton to set up a July date with Quigg than by scoring an impressive KO win this weekend.
