Two weeks after being stripped of his WBA super-bantamweight title, Carl Frampton has also relinquished his IBF crown in order to meet the conditions necessary to get his next bout sorted.
Frampton is set to clash with Leo Santa Cruz for the Mexican’s WBA super world featherweight title on 30 July in New York and has thus been forced to vacate his IBF belt.
‘The Jackal’ became unified champion when he defeated Scott Quigg in February to add Quigg’s WBA super-bantamweight championship to the IBF one claimed by Frampton by besting Kiko Martinez in 2014.
But the Belfast fighter was stripped of his WBA belt a fortnight ago for a failure to defend against mandatory challenger Guillermo Rigondeaux and now moves up in weight to take on the WBA featherweight champ.
Frampton puts his perfect professional record on the line against fellow undefeated fighter Santa Cruz who has gone 32-0-1, claiming titles across three different weight classes in the process.
The bout takes place at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center this summer in what will be Frampton’s second bout in the United States.
“This is the fight I wanted and I’m 100 per cent confident that the belt will be coming home to Belfast,” Frampton told Sky Sports.
“Santa Cruz is a strong and aggressive undefeated champion, but his style is made for me.
“Myself and my team have been chasing this fight for a long, long time and that’s because we know we have the tools to beat Leo.
“He throws a lot shots and is a proven operator, it’s going to be a great fight.”
