It should be Frampton’s to lose but “should” has turned into a giant upset on too many occasions for The Jackal to consider this a done deal.
A 1/50 favourite, Frampton is expected to defend his IBF super-bantamweight strap for the second time when he takes on the 25-1-2 Alejandro Gonzalez on Saturday night.
We’ve highlighted five strategies that we think Barry McGuigan’s protégé ought to employ to ensure he leaves Texas with his 122 lb title intact.
Constant movement
We see very few ways that Alejandro Gonzalez can pull off the upset but there is no doubt that the Mexican has the knockout power to hurt anyone who stands straight in front of him.
Alvaro Calderon found that out the hard way as he stood stationary in front of the hard-hitting 22-year-old when the pair fought back in 2012.
With his feet planted on the canvas, Calderon offered Gonzalez the most simple target to hit and felt the full force of Gonzalez’ left hook.
Luckily, Frampton’s intelligence and spatial awareness are two of his greatest strengths and he continues to give opponents fits with his constant movement, making him harder to hit but also tiring opponents out as they come forward in search of the knockout.
Ahead of his last title defence against Chris Avalos, a similar strategy was advised for The Jackal to avoid the power punches of the American and he utilised stellar movement early on to frustrate Avalos.
Right hand tight
As you can see from the first clip above, Gonzalez has a left hook from hell and it will likely be this punch that is the biggest threat to Frampton’s reign as champion.
In his fifteen knockouts, the Mexican has continued to take advantage of his opponents’ tendency to drop their right hand in exchanges.
Frampton has some of the best technique in the game though and even in the wilder flurries, the Belfast fighter keeps his chin protected at all times.
Even at distance, Frampton will need to stay true to a disciplined guard if he is to to escape unscathed against Gonzalez.
Get on the inside
Frampton fights surprisingly well from the outside for such a short fighter but he will prefer the security of being in tight with Gonzalez where he cannot fall victim to the stiff jab or ripping left hook.
Cobrito is two inches taller than Frampton which translates to a whopping five inch reach advantage that Frampton will be keen to avoid.
With Frampton’s proclivity for throwing punches in bunches, his entry is punishing enough on his opponent but when he gets on the inside, he possesses some of the most damaging body punches in the division which can wear on challengers in the latter rounds.
As is the case with most rangy fighters, Gonzalez’s arsenal is often nullified on the inside and you could tell that he didn’t like fighting at close quarters during the early stages of his victory over Hanzel Martinez.
Uppercuts
Frampton is blessed with tremendous creativity in his combinations and while his right straight is likely his best punch, it works best when hooks and uppercuts are mixed in with it.
Investing in uppercuts would be a good strategy for the champ as Gonzalez has a tendency to negate his own height advantage by crouching low in search of angles.
The Mexican doesn’t have the greatest guard in the world so sending uppercuts through the gap could catch Gonzalez unawares.
Frampton’s uppercuts often come out of nowhere and he took advantage of Kiko Martinez’s ducking head by finishing this combination with a sneaky right uppercut from the hip.
Counter punching
The discrepancy in quality between Frampton and Gonzalez is perhaps best highlighted by the fact that the Mexican often fails to get his hands, head and shoulders back in the correct defensive position after throwing a combination.
He is primarily a come-forward fighter and hasn’t yet been caught out because of the level of competition that he has faced thus far but if he plods forward winging punches against Frampton, he will 100% be picked off.
You can get away with slowly returning your back hand to your chin when facing opponents like Javier Franco and Jose Carlos Vargas, with all due respect to them, but any defensive indiscipline against Frampton will get you hit with heavy counter shots like this.
We think that the oddsmakers have this one right and that Gonzalez will be out of his depth when he takes Frampton on. The 22-year-old’s naivety and reliance on one or two power punches is no match for the toolbox that The Jackal has at his disposal and we’re predicting an early stoppage for the Belfast fighter. Frampton by TKO, round two, is our pick.
Fight details
Carl Frampton v Alejandro Gonzalez
Title: IBF super-bantamweight
Venue: Don Haskins Center, El Paso, Texas
Date: Saturday, July 18
TV: UTV (coverage starts at 9:45pm)
