Carl Frampton moves to cool Frank Warren’s talk of early summer return

Carl Frampton [26(15)-2(0)] has moved to inform fans that he will not be returning to the ring until the late summer.

‘The Jackal’ has elected to fight on following his loss to IBF featherweight champion Josh Warrington but has always said that his comeback bout will not take place until after his well-publicised court case with Cyclone Promotions in May,

This meant that talk of a fight with WBO champ Oscar Valdez at the end of this month was dismissed out of hand.

Preliminary talks with Valdez continue – along with contact with WBA champ Leo Santa Cruz – and Frampton’s promoter, Frank Warren, last week promised that his man would be back in a major contest soon.

Warren said that “Carl and I, we spoke, and his management team, we spoke, MTK, and he will be fighting probably end of May, early June, and he will be involved in a very, very big fight.”

Last month, the Queensberry boss had said similar, explaining how the fight “rightly wants the big fights now and is deserving of them. We will get to work on making them happen for him, starting around June time.”

However, Frampton has come out to contradict this.

A fight in late May or early June would suggest that Frampton would undergo the majority of his fight camp during the court proceedings.

This is not desirable for the Tiger’s Bay boxer who has instead stated that he will have his comeback fight in late July or early August – meaning that the heavy portion of camp with Jamie Moore at the VIP Gym in Manchester would begin following the conclusion of his court case.

Writing in his weekly column for the Sunday Life, the soon-to-be-32-year-old outlined how “I know the was some talk that it could happen in May or June but with my court case coming up that won’t be the case so it is most likely the end of July or August.”

“Having spoken to my team I feel I’m in a more relaxed and privileged position and I’m more relaxed and positive than ever about a big fight happening this summer.”

With Valdez and Santa Cruz both holding belts – and Santa Cruz being especially reluctant to travel – Frampton admits that “it all points to another trip to America.”

There already promises to be big time boxing in Belfast this summer via Mick Conlan who hopes to take on Vladimir Nikitin at the Falls Park during the Féile an Phobail.