Unheralded Mexican, Alejandro González Jr. gave Carl Frampton the toughest fight of his career at the weekend when he unsuccessfully challenged for the Belfast man’s IBF super bantamweight title.

González Jr. shocked the boxing world by knocking ‘The Jackal’ down twice in the opening round of their contest in El Paso, before Frampton fought back to secure a comprehensive points win. Immediately after the fight ‘La Cobríta,’ was disappointed with the result and requested an immediate rematch, claiming he won the bout.

Upon reflection however, the young Mexican admitted that he was fairly defeated, telling the Belfast Telegraph: “I tried my best and I did have a great performance. I think maybe I did lose but not by that many points. He is a great champion and he won and I’m not going to be a cry baby because I fought hard and lost. I hurt my hand with the second knockdown, it’s very badly damaged but I lost fairly, no excuses – I won more losing than winning because of the performance I put in.”

Noting the impact his valiant performance will have on his career, González continued: “I think I will gain a lot more fans after this. I said it would be a war and it was, mission accomplished. They thought it was going to be an easy fight but I dropped him, he didn’t drop me.”

The 22 year old then predicted world titles for himself in the future, claiming that “I have shown that I will come back and be a champion and I will go back to my natural weight at 118lbs, bantamweight, that’s the weight for me and I’ll be a superstar at 118lb.”

González Jr. was quick to praise the Tiger’s Bay boxer, explaining that “I think Carl is a great fighter, I thought he was going to hit a lot harder, but he is a very, very smart fighter. He learned from this fight – he knows how to survive. I had him – but he survived, and that’s what champions do. I got caught with some good clean shots but never felt bad, never.”

González Jr. also sportingly apologised for his continued low-blows throughout the fight, saying that “I am a clean fighter and it was never my intention to do the low blows. I was sorry that I did it, but it happened.

Much like Kiko Martínez before him, González explained that he forged a fighter’s bond with Frampton after their twelve round battle, with the Mexican revealing that “we are friends now, I gained his respect.”