By Ian S Palmer
Former world champion Carl Frampton of Belfast, Northern Ireland will be taking on Darren Traynor of Scotland in a 10-round lightweight bout in Stratford, England this Saturday, August 15th. The bout can be seen live on ESPN and ESPN Deportes in America while BT Sport will carry it in the UK and TSN 3 has it in Canada. Frampton’s last bout resulted in a 10-round unanimous decision over Tyler McCreary in November. Traynor last fought in February when he decisioned Des Newton on points over six rounds.
Frampton is now 33 years old and enters the ring with an impressive record of 27-2 with 15 Kos to his name. He’s fought 205 rounds since turning pro in 2009. The ex-Super Bantamweight and Featherweight World Champion champion stands 5-feet-5-inches tall and has a 62-inch reach. Frampton has pretty good, but not overwhelming power as his current knockout ratio stands at 51.7 per cent.
The former champ has a fine chin but has been on the canvas before. Frampton’s also a former European and Commonwealth Champion who enjoyed a fine amateur career. His biggest-name opponents so far have been Josh Warrington, Nonito Donaire, Leo Santa Cruz, Scott Quigg, Kiko Martinez and Steve Molitor. He’s gone 7-3 with 3 Kos against current and former world champions so has done quite well when stepping up in class.
Of course, he’s best known for his pair of classic bouts against Santa Cruz in which he won the WBA Super World Featherweight crown by majority decision in July, 2016 and then lost it via a majority decision in their rematch six months later. His last big outing was in December, 2018 when he dropped a unanimous decision to IBF World Champion Josh Warrington. Frampton’s a solid boxer with a good arsenal of punches and isn’t one to lose his concentration in the ring.
He’s quite accurate with his shots, doesn’t waste many of them and uses his jab to set up straight right hands and left hooks. He’s comfortable leading the way or counterpunching and his power is somewhat underrated. He’s just past his prime and most fans would like to see him meet Santa Cruz again in a rubber match. But that being said, he can’t just show up Traynor on Saturday.
The 33-year old Traynor of Aberdeen, is a late replacement as Frampton was supposed to fight Vahram Vardanyan. He enters the fight with a mark of 16-3 with 7 Ko’s. He turned pro in 2011 and has 106 rounds of experience under his belt. There’s no height and reach information on Traynor, who is nicknamed ‘Trayn Wreck’ so we don’t know how he stacks up in size with Frampton.
The three losses by Traynor came at the hands of Ryan Walsh by fifth round stoppage in 2016, by James Tennyson via third-round stoppage in 2017 and by an eight-round unanimous decision to Juli Giner in 2018. The fight with Walsh was for the British Featherweight Title while the battle with Tennyson was for the WBA International Super Featherweight Crown.
Since turning pro, Traynor has won the British Scottish Area Lightweight Title. However, he hasn’t fought anybody of note with wins over the likes of Sid Razak, David Savage, Simon Volisinas Jamie Quinn and Eddie Doyle. Just five of Traynor’s opponents have had winning records and his current knockout ratio is 36.8 per cent. His chin isn’t the greatest either as he’s been stopped twice, so he’s basically expected to lose on Saturday.
Prediction…
This is obviously a confidence builder for Frampton and a payday, nothing more really as a win over Traynor isn’t going to prove anything. It will keep Frampton active though and he shouldn’t have a problem emerging with a victory.
