Frampton out until February?
THE IBF have given Carl Frampton until February to defend his title against mandatory challenger Chris Avalos, according to Eddie Hearn.
The Matchroom boss has teamed up with No1 contender Avalos, the fighter Frampton had to face within 90 days of claiming the IBF super bantamweight championships of the World- and claims the IBF have informed him the Belfast star has been given an extended period of grace.
The massive ticket seller would have had to face Avalos in December if the Californian didn’t take step aside money, but according Hearn, Frampton has been given an extra 90 days.
Frampton’s promoters Cyclone Promotions indicated as much after he beat Kiko Martinez to claim the title in front of 16,000 fans. on September 6. Immediately after the bout they revealed ‘The Jackal’ had hurt his hand against tough come forward fighter and suggested he might need sometime to recover.
Hearn confirmed in his Daily Mail column that Frampton has been afforded that time by the IBF.
“We are co-promoting Frampton’s mandatory Chris Avalos but we’ve seen from correspondence to the IBF and Top Rank that Carl is injured and will not be able to fulfill his obligation within the stated period. It is likely now the IBF will grant a medical exemption and give him a further 60 days to make the fight.
“My decision to get involved with Avalos was two fold. One, I feel I can maximize his earning potential through the opportunities and my experience within this market and two it gives me an opportunity to make the Quigg vs Frampton fight next while compensating Avalos accordingly.
“Frampton has to fight Avalos by December 4 but now that he’s injured, he’ll have to fight him by the end of February. His injury puts more pressure on making the Quigg-Frampton fight because he’s now not expecting to fight Avalos until February or March and I don’t think the British public will wait much longer for that fight.
“If Frampton is not going to be ready until then, I’ll be looking to get Quigg out again before the end of the year.”
