Chris Avalos might not be the most recognisable name for the casual boxing fan on this side of the world but we can assure you that he’s a genuine danger for Carl Frampton.
Frampton (19-0) is defending his IBF World super-bantamweight title on Saturday night against the exciting young American and will need to keep his wits about him if he is to leave Belfast’s Odyssey Arena with his belt.
We’ve highlighted the key areas where Frampton needs to be on his guard when he takes to the ring against Avalos (25-2).
Avoid the brawl
The 25-year-old Avalos has made a name for himself with an aggressive, stand-and-trade style of boxing. He has 19 knockouts to his name and most of them have come in wild exchanges in which both fighters are swinging for the fences.
“The Hitman” loves nothing more to just stand in the pocket and swing punches. It might not be the most technical display of boxing, but it’s effective. Take a look at his TKO of Rolly Lunas for evidence of this trait.
Frampton is a very clever and technical boxer but he can sometimes get drawn into a free-for-all, which is something that he must avoid at all costs against the hard-hitting Californian.
Even when “The Jackal” secured his title against Kiko Martinez last September, he had to be constantly reminded by his corner not to get caught up in street-fighting exchanges.
Avalos hits a lot harder than Martinez and Frampton’s gameplan should be based around boxing smartly, rather than attempting to entertain the home crowd with a back-and-forth brawl.
All the way in or all the way out
Chris Avalos will enjoy a significant reach advantage over the champion on Saturday. The American is 5′ 7″ and has a reach of 67.5″ while his Belfast counterpart is 5′ 5″ with a 62″ reach.
That means that Frampton cannot allow Avalos to find his range early and dictate where the fight takes place.
Even though Avalos is not the biggest jabber in the world, with a five inch reach advantage, he could pick Frampton apart from the outside if he chooses to.
Frampton should work the body on the inside but be quick to get back out of Avalos’ range on the break because the Californian fighter will be slapping out hooks when they break.
Back in 2009, Jose Nieves was too lethargic in getting out of range off the break and he was dropped with an Avalos right.
Shane McGuigan will have him well drilled to commit to his positioning, either fight all the way on the inside where Avalos’ long arms cannot connect or stay out of the lengthy range of the American.
Lateral movement
Try as he might, it’s going to be all but impossible for Frampton to control the centre of the ring against the bigger, more aggressive fighter.
That means he has to be constantly circling Avalos and peppering him with punches, otherwise the American will cut the ring off and force Frampton against the ropes where he can turn it into the dogfight that he wants.
When circling to his left, though, Frampton has to be wary of not walking straight into one of Avalos’ trademark right hooks.
The tactic of circling away from the forward pressure of Avalos is what earned Jhonathan Romero the win in what was Avalos’ second professional loss.
Counter-punching
The first round of the bout is going to be terribly interesting insofar as it’ll be revealed who is going to lead the fight and who is content to counter-punch.
In his early career, Frampton made a name for himself as one of the best counter-punchers in the business, but in recent years he’s upped his aggression in the ring.
Avalos is a nasty counter-puncher in his own right and there could be more danger for Frampton if he decides to push the pace. He should allow the less-accurate boxing of Avalos to miss the target and use the opening to land freely.
A defensive flaw in Avalos’ game is that he fails to protect himself fully with his right hand when throwing a jab which leaves him open to compact left hooks, something which Christopher Martin took advantage of when he handed “The Hitman” his first loss.
And luckily for us, Frampton has an elusive and crisp left hook.
Straight punches
As useful as those counter left hooks could be for Frampton, when he is the aggressor he should avail of straight punches.
Avalos often stands straight on against his opponents which simply makes him a bigger target and, with his tendency to hold his defensive guard a little too open, jabs and straight rights from Frampton could be the just the ticket when it comes to point-scoring.
Against Martin, Avalos remained squared up for most of the fight and was picked apart by the straight punches of his opponent.
Frampton should be sending straight punches up through the middle of Avalos’ questionable guard throughout the bout.
It’s always going to be more difficult landing punches on a taller opponent but straight punches travel more quickly than wide hooks or uppercuts so we’d urge him to stick to jabs and the straight right for the opening few rounds, something he did very well against Jeremy Parodi.
Deep waters
With Avalos’ come-forward fighting style, he often tends to wane as the fight develops, which is something that Frampton will be certain to exploit come Saturday night.
Avalos has never been 12 rounds in his professional career which is another advantage to the Belfast boxer, considering he outlasted Kiko Martinez who had been 12 rounds plenty of times.
During that title-winning encounter, Frampton was pouring it on in the final round which shows that his gas tank, coupled with his less taxing fight style, is conducive to championship fights.
We simply don’t know how Avalos will perform in the 11th and 12th round because he’s never seen them.
But we do know that he looked awfully leggy in the 10th round of his second career loss, against Jhonathan Romero, and his usually explosive punches looked like they were travelling through water.
Those are just the main things for us to look out for when Carl Frampton meets Chris Avalos for the IBF super-bantamweight title on Saturday night. Frampton has to drag Avalos into the deeper rounds where he can punish the wilder fight style and unconvincing defensive tactics of he American. If he does that, he should take this bout easily. But as we know, anything can happen in the fight game.
Fight details
Carl Frampton v Chris Avalos
Title: IBF super-bantamweight
Venue: Odyssey Arena, Belfast
Date: Saturday February 28
TV: UTV (coverage starts at 10.50pm)
