Andres Gutierrez arrives in Belfast for Frampton fight – will weight be an issue?
This evening Andres Gutierrez [35(25)-1(0)-1] touched down in Belfast ahead of the biggest fight of his life.
The Mexican takes on home favourite Carl Frampton [23(14)-1(0)] on Saturday night at the SSE Odyssey Arena, however he wont have long to acclimatise ahead of their WBC featherweight title eliminator.
Gutierrez, most likely due to financial constraints, arrived in Ireland this evening, just five days prior to the fight, following a flight from Mexico to London spanning over ten hours then a quick hop across to Belfast.
Jumping across six timezones, and also going from west to east which is said to be more difficult on the body, ‘Jaguarcito’ certainly does not have much time to adjust following his journey – especially when the common rule of thumb dictates that one needs a day per timezone to get over jetlag.
There may also be an element of inexperience on the part of Gutierrez’s team which echoes that of Frampton’s first transatlantic journey. Back in the Summer of 2015 Frampton travelled to El Paso, a similar distance, to take on the unheralded Alejandro Gonzalez Jr. ‘The Jackal’ arrived in Texas 11 days out, and would note afterwards his difficulties therefore in acclimatising and making weight.
Changes were subsequently made and, for his two Stateside bouts with Leo Santa Cruz, Frampton would arrive and prepare in America almost a month beforehand.
For 24 year old Gutierrez there is also the issue of making the 126lbs featherweight limit.
In his last major fight, against Cristian Mijares for the WBC Silver title last Summer, the Queretaro came in a full four pounds overweight and lost a close, contentious decision in the ring.
While Gutierrez came in at 123.5lbs for his low-profile comeback bout, question marks still remain.
When asked by Irish-Boxing.com last month about the issue of making weight, Gutierrez, who was 134.25lbs at a check-weight on July 11th, dismissed the prospect of any difficulty saying “no, no problem at all.”
However, with almost a full day of airports and airplanes so close to weighing in as well as the more temperate Belfast weather perhaps not melting off the pounds as much as the Mexican sun, Gutierrez could well be in for a struggle on the scales.
