CARL FRAMPTON today flew out to New York ahead of his July 30 meeting with WBA world featherweight champion Leo Santa Cruz at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn.
The trip will be Frampton’s second professional outing in America after he rose from two first-round knockdowns to outpoint Alejandro Gonzalez Jr last July.
That sub-par performance took place in Texas, and Frampton has since revealed his struggle to acclimate to the heat and has admitted it was a mistake to arrive in America just eight days before that meeting.
The Ulsterman, who trains in London, is taking no such risks this time around for his fight against three-weight champ Santa Cruz, and the fact they are squaring off on the east coast of the States should also help.
The next time I’m on a flight I’ll be bringing a shiny new belt back home to Belfast #AndTheNew#2WeightWorldChamppic.twitter.com/VoFnGItdCy
โ Carl Frampton MBE (@RealCFrampton) July 4, 2016
Frampton unified the WBA and IBF world super-bantamweight titles in February when he outpointed domestic rival Scott Quigg in Manchester.
Santa Cruz is coming off a fifth-session stoppage of former Frampton victim Kiko Martinez, and prior to that he had earned a decision over Abner Mares.