Carl Frampton pleased with choice of comeback foe Horacio Garcia

Carl Frampton [23(14)-1(0)] has had his opponent confirmed for his big Belfast homecoming next month, and feels that it will be an exciting fight.

‘The Jackal’ takes on Mexican Horacio Garcia [33(24)-3(0)-1] at the SSE Odyssey Arena on Saturday November 18th.

The Guadalajara 27 year old has been outpointed by three-weight champ Hozumi Hasegawa and rising contender Jojo Diaz, while he also holds wins over decent names in Josue Veraza and Fernando Vargas.

A solid if unspectacular foe, featherweight Frampton feels it is the perfect comeback fight following almost eleven months off since his WBA title loss to Leo Santa Cruz in January.

The Tigers Bay 30 year old is expecting a game foe and noted that “this is a fight that really excites me.”

“Garcia will definitely come and have a go. He’s a typical Mexican warrior, he’s tough and he’s game and he’ll try and put it on me in front of my home crowd.”

“He has never been stopped in his career and has only lost to World class opposition, excluding the loss against Olguin. It will be good to get a fight in against a live opponent before I get one of the big boys in the new year.”

The fight will headline the ‘Frampton Reborn’ bill which also features an IBF title challenge from Belfast super flyweight Jamie Conlan, a WBO title defence from South African bantamweight star Zolani Tete, and an all-Irish Fight of the Year rematch between Jono Carroll and Declan Geraghty.

Frampton is proud to be the headliner and outlined how “this fight has been a long time coming and it’s good to be back out in Belfast topping a double World Title bill that also features my good friend Paddy Barnes defending his WBO European title.”

“It’s a great bill, probably the best bill that Ireland has ever seen, I don’t think people will criticise me too much for saying that. It’s a quality bill and to be topping it is a huge honour.”

The fight is scheduled for ten rounds – Frampton’s first since his 2011 BBBoC Celtic title defence against Robbie Turley.

At present it is a non-title fight – although a rankings belt will inevitably be tacked on in the coming weeks.

Frampton described how “I asked for a ten-round fight. I would have been happy to be doing twelve rounds but speaking to my team after the bad year I’ve had and the long layoff they thought it was only fair to come back with a ten rounder before we target the big names.”