The Jackal Army helped Frampton make history

It wasn’t quite the Titanic Quarter or the Odyssey Arena, but Carl Frampton claims the noise generated by ‘The Jackal Army’ in New York on Saturday night played a part in his win.

Anyone that has witnessed a Frampton fight week in the boxing capital of Ireland, knows the two-weight World champion feeds off the excitement generated.

So much so it was suggested he missed the buzz his sizable fan base creates ahead of his clash with Alejandro Gonzalez in Texas last year and, as a result, produced a performance not worthy of his high standards.

Considering Leo Santa Cruz’s profile, and the fact that Frampton had both the chance to announce himself as a potential pound-for-pound star and make history in New York last Saturday – needing that crowd atmosphere wasn’t as much a worry for Saturday’s clash.

However, the Jackal Army still turned out in force, made noise and made a difference according to the new WBA featherweight World champion.

“My first time here with Alejandro Gonzalez I was in Texas, was only here a week and there wasn’t that many people in the arena. You come here, sure it’s no Belfast, but at least 1000 Irish made the trip and you could hear them. You didn’t want to let them down making such a long trip and they were with me every punch,” he told BoxingScene.

The Cyclone Promotions puncher was an underdog going into the clash with Santa Cruz and most American pundits backed the three-weight World champion to overwhelm him with his infamous workrate and punch output. However, the undefeated Belfast fighter ensured his foe had to think twice about marching forward when he hurt him with a left hook in the second stanza and he claims that made a massive difference.

“I hurt him in the second round and I think that made the difference. We wanted to give him angles, movement, we wanted to control the distance and my timing was pretty good. I said it all along I was going to give him something different, something he hasn’t seen and look he is a great fighter, but I am a great fighter too and I was the better man on the night.”