Carl Frampton will defend the IBF Super Bantamweight crown against Alejandro Gonzalez Jr. on July 18 in El Paso, Texas according to Dan Rafael of espn.com.
“I am delighted to be defending my title in the USA on July 18th live on CBS against Alejandro Gonzalez Jr. I want to become a star in the USA, and this is my first step on that journey,” Frampton said. “Now that my team is working with Al Haymon, I am set to defend my title in front of millions of U.S. fight fans on CBS.
“Alejandro Gonzalez Jr. is a dangerous Mexican challenger, but he has never fought anyone like me and on the 18th of July he is in for a big, big shock. I feel I am the best [junior featherweight] in the world, and I am excited to box in front of a huge television audience in the USA.”
Barry McGuigan, the Hall of Fame former featherweight titleholder and Frampton’s manager, said he believes Frampton’s fan-friendly, action style will resonate with American boxing fans.
“I believe Carl’s all-action style will captivate the U.S. fight fans. Frampton has all the ingredients needed to become a major star in the USA,” McGuigan said. “He is an exceptional fighter with a brilliant personality who has a fanatical fan base in the U.K. Alejandro Gonzalez Jr. is a hungry and dangerous young Mexican boxer who will be travelling to El Paso, Texas, to rip that belt from Frampton. This is going to be a cracking fight.”
Junior middleweight titleholder Cornelius “K9” Bundrage (34-5, 19 KOs), 42, of Detroit, was supposed to make the first defense of his second title reign on the July 18 card against mandatory challenger Jermall Charlo (21-0, 16 KOs), 25, of Houston.
However, Bundrage suffered a bad cut over his left eye during a sparring session on Monday and the fight was postponed.
“They told us K9 will probably be out six to eight weeks so the fight will have to be rescheduled,” Ronnie Shields, Charlo’s trainer, told ESPN.com. “Jermall is a little disappointed but he said there’s nothing he can do about it, so just move on.
“He said, ‘This is nothing compared to the thing I went through with Carlos Molina. At least this guy just got a cut, so we’ll reschedule it,’ ” Shields said.