Frampton to pay tribute to fallen foe Alejandro González Jr tonight
Carl Frampton will pay tribute to former opponent Alejandro ‘Cobríta’ González Jr tonight in Las Vegas.
Back in July 2015, González almost caused a huge upset when he challenged for Frampton’s IBF super bantamweight title in El Paso, downing the Belfast man twice in the opening round. Frampton fought back to claim a points win and would remain in contact with the Mexican.
González Jr then was murdered near his home in Guadalajara last month, being found shot in his car alongside his grandfather and one other person. He was just 23 years old.
The fight in Texas, and it’s aftermath, saw Frampton develop a large amount of respect for the youngster, and the Tigers Bay man was immensely saddened to hear of Gonzalez’s tragic death.
Tonight ‘The Jackal’ defends his WBA featherweight title against Leo Santa Cruz at the MGM Grand Garden Arena and, in honour of González, his fight shorts will feature a patch that reads “RIP Cobríta.”
“It’s just to show my sign of respect for the guy,” Frampton told BoxingScene.com. “When you share a ring with someone, you gain that respect that you don’t have for many other people, especially when you go 12 hard rounds. He’s someone that I respected and I just wanna kind of pay my respects to him on fight night as well.”
Read Keith Idec’s interview with Frampton about González in full here.
–
Eric Donovan joins Gavan Casey and Joe O’Neill on Episode 2 of the Irish Boxing Show:
