Ni Gilbert Espeña
KAPWA nakuha nina Nonito Donaire, Jr. ng Pilipinas at Briton Carl Frampton ang timbang sa kanilang laban ngayon para sa WBO interim featherweight title sa The SSE Arena, Belfast, Norther Ireland sa United Kingdom.
Liyamado sa oddsmakers si Frampton na tumimbang na 125.25 pound dahil mas bata siya kaysa Donaire na mas mabigat sa 125.5 pounds at gagawin ang sagupaan sa kanyang teritoryo.
Ngunit, hindi maaaring balewalain ni Frampton ang mas matandang si Donaire na nagkampeon sa limang dibisyon at may 24 panalo sa knockouts sa 38 tinalo kaya aminado ang Briton na ninenerbiyos siya sa punching power ng Pinoy boxer.
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“The nerves I’m going in to the fight with is a good thing, because if you can control them, which I believe I can, I can use them to my advantage. I think I’ll be switched on from start to finish and I have to be,” sabi ni Frampton sa Boxingscene.com.
“We’ve been linked for a long time now. When I was champion in 2014 at super bantamweight, and he was a champion, they were talking about the fight then,” dagdag ni Frampton. “I believed then I could beat him and I believe even more so now. In this frame of mind and how I’m feeling, I think I win the fight and I win it in style!”
Naniniwala naman ang manager ni Donaire na si Ringstar Sports big boss Richard Schaefer na may laban o halos tabla sina Donaire at Frampton na may rekord namang 24 na panalo at 1 talo na may 14 pagwawagi sa knockouts.
“When I met with Nonito last year he was very clear that he doesn’t want to have tune-up’s at this point in his career. He’s a big-time fighter, he’s a five-division world champion he’s one of the biggest names in the sport. So he wanted big fights,’’ ani Schaefer.
“I said, ‘Well, I can’t promise you anything but I can certainly try and in his second fight with me he’s getting to fight Frampton. We put together a bit of a hit list, Donaire and me, from those big names he would like most and Frampton was on top of the list,” diin ni Schaefer.
“I understand that we’re going into the lion’s den in Belfast, it’s going to be a sell-out crowd and I just talked to one of the Irish reporters,” ani Schaefer. “There is so much anticipation for this weekend. But I believe Carl Frampton in his last fight didn’t look all that great and the fact is that those fights with Leo Santa Cruz, those 24 rounds, they took a lot of of Frampton and probably out of Santa Cruz, as well.”
“So that’s why I think it’s a very evenly matched fight, people really don’t give Donaire really much of a chance, I disagree,” dagdag ni Schaefer. “I think Donaire when you are a five-division world champion you live for these kind of moments, you live for these kind of fights and it’s these kind of moments which motivate you to go the extra mile when you train, you train extra hard when you know this is your chance - and it might be your last chance.”
