Featherweight boxing contender Carl Frampton might hail from Belfast, Northern Ireland, but he will be making Westchester County his home for the next few weeks as he trains for his upcoming bout with Leo Santa Cruz at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn. On Tuesday, July 12, Westchester officially welcomed the undefeated fighter, as County Executive Rob Astorino met with Frampton at Champ’s Boxing Club in New Rochelle and proclaimed July 12 to be Carl Frampton Appreciation Day.
Frampton, 22-0, will challenge Santa Cruz for the WBA Super World Featherweight Belt on July 30, and will use the Division Street gym in New Rochelle as the base of operations for his training camp. His only previous fight in the United States took place in El Paso, Texas, last year.
“I wanted to come to New York early, get used to the heat, and get my sparring in,” Frampton said. “My team did all the research and picked this place out in New Rochelle, and it’s a great spot.”
Frampton’s trainer, Barry McGuigan, said that he was hoping to plant a seed within the local Irish community to stir up some interest in his fighter.
“We only have three weeks to kick up the dust, so we wanted to find a place that had an Irish community,” he said. “We particularly wanted to get the Irish fans on board.”
And although Frampton still has a demanding training schedule leading up to the fight, he said he’s going to make an effort to connect with the locals.
“We have a few things planned,” he said. “We’re going to see the consulate, probably hit up a few Irish pubs as well and shake a few hands and try to drum up a bit of interest. I know that people over here, not just the Irish community, but New Yorkers, they’re big boxing fans, and I’m hoping they’ll all get on my side.”
Astorino predicted that Westchester boxing fans will be pulling for the 29-year-old Belfast native.
“On behalf of the 1 million people of Westchester, [there are] many boxing fans and a great storied history of boxing, including at the County Center,” Astorino said. “So we’re wishing you luck.”
Ryan O’Leary, who runs Champs Boxing Club, said that even though Frampton and his team have only been in town for about a week, their arrival has transformed the local gym.
In addition to Frampton and his stablemates, Australian middleweight Sam Soliman is also training at the New Rochelle gym in preparation for his July 21 fight with Sergiy Derevyanchenko, which will be held at Foxwoods Resort Casino in Mashantucket, Connecticut.
Having so many accomplished pro fighters around, O’Leary said, has been a blessing for his own boxers.
“They can’t get over it, it’s amazing,” he said. “We’re a little gym on a side street in New Rochelle, and now we have a world champion from Ireland and a world champion from Australia in here, and the kids are blown away.”
