CARL FRAMPTON said he was “flying” as he worked in the sweaty cauldron of the Church Street Gym beneath the busy streets of Manhattan on Wednesday.
Typically relaxed, Frampton said the switch up four pounds to the featherweight limit of 126lbs had left him feeling “strong” and ready for the toughest test of his career to date against belt holder Leo Santa Cruz on Saturday night: “I feel good, I feel strong,” he said.
“This is my weight, this is where I’m going to perform best at. I’m flying, I’m really flying. Making super - bantam was killing me. I didn’t like to admit it back then but it was killing me, it was affecting my performance but I’m flying now.”
Frampton was on a strict diet of around 1000 calories a day to get down to super-bantam for his February scrap with Scott Quigg. Now aged 29, his manager Barry McGuigan says the Belfast fighter still improving: “It’s going to be a great fight and he needs to be in the best shape of his life because this will be the most searching fight he has ever had,” said McGuigan, a former WBC featherweight champion himself.
“He’s going to do it. He has to box when Santa Cruz wants to fight and fight when Santa Cruz wants to box. He needs to get out in front and be ready for him when he attacks – and he will be ready. He has to put on the performance of his life and he knows that and he will do that.”
