RATINGS WAR: Carl Frampton unconcerned by Amir Khan channel clash

Carl Frampton [24(14)-1(0)] admits it’s disappointing that his upcoming clash with Nonito Donaire will clash with another big name on another big channel, but ‘The Jackal’ is confident that he and his undercard can put on a show that will leave the fans the winners.

The Belfast featherweight takes on the Filipino four-weight champion at the SSE Odyssey Arena on Saturday April 21st, live on BT Sport and BoxNation. At the same time, across the Irish Sea, Amir Khan makes his comeback after almost two years, with the former WBA light welterweight champ fighting a to-be-confirmed opponent at the Echo Arena in Liverpool, live on Sky Sports.

Frampton’s undercard sees three all-Irish fights – Conrad Cummings v Luke Keeler, Tyrone McKenna v Phil Sutcliffe, and Jono Carroll v Marco McCullough – while the Khan card currently has a Sean Dodd v Tommy Coyle clash confirmed with Liborio Solis v Paul Butler also rumoured.

Frank Warren, promoter of Frampton, blasted Eddie Hearn for the clash – although the Matchroom boss would claim he was working off Warren’s initial unofficial announcement of an April 7th fight date in Belfast.

Frampton himself is not overly worried about the potentially divisive effect of two major cards running concurrently.

Writing in his weekly column for the Sunday Life he outlined how “the only disappointment about the night is that Sky are putting Amir Khan’s comeback fight on the same day, but to be honest, when you see the card for Belfast I don’t think BT Sport have anything to worry about when it comes to ratings.”

Giving his view on the three main undercard bouts set for Belfast, Frampton’ described how “Tyrone McKenna and Phil Sutcliffe are going to give the fans a realy good scrap. It’s a fight that has been talked about for some time and it’s a good clash of styles – the boxer Tyrone against the fighter and everyone knows that Phil is a dangerous puncher.”

“Cummings against Keeler is going to be a humdinger, they both like to come forward and have a real fight.”

“April 21st is also going to be a big night for Belfast’s Marc McCullough, who has an exciting fight with Jono Carroll.”