BOSTON -- Carl Frampton has an important fight on the horizon but that has not stopped the former featherweight and junior featherweight world titleholder from thinking about the even bigger fights he wants down the road.
Northern Ireland's Frampton is scheduled to challenge England's Josh Warrington for his featherweight belt on Dec. 22 (ESPN+) at Manchester Arena in Manchester, England, in one of the United Kingdom's biggest fights of the year. A victory figures to propel Frampton into a title unification fight, quite possibly against Oscar Valdez.
Valdez promoter Bob Arum of Top Rank and Frank Warren, who promotes Warrington and Frampton, have been discussing the prospect of the Dec. 22 winner heading to the United States to take on Mexico's Valdez (24-0, 19 KOs), who would first have to win a fight in January against an opponent to be determined in his return from a broken jaw that he suffered in his action-packed decision win over Scott Quigg on March 10.
The prospect of a fight with Valdez excites Frampton, who made the trip to Boston for the Demetrius Andrade-Walter Kautondokwa card at TD Garden this past Saturday because he shares trainer Jamie Moore with junior welterweight Tommy Coyle, who outpointed Ryan Kielczweski in a grueling fight on the undercard.
"I have to win that fight (against Warrington) but I'm planning on winning it and I believe I will win it, and then when we look to the future Valdez is certainly a fight I would like," Frampton said. "I've seen stuff recently that Bob Arum and Frank Warren have been speaking and suggesting that fight. They have a good relationship with each other. It's a unification fight, so obviously I'd be up for it."
Frampton (26-1, 15 KOs), 31, was the 2016 consensus fighter of the year when he outpointed Quigg to unify junior featherweight world titles and then moved up to featherweight, came to New York and defeated Leo Santa Cruz by majority decision to win a world title in a second weight class in their blazing first fight.
"I have to win that fight (against Warrington) but I'm planning on winning it and I believe I will win it, and then when we look to the future Valdez is certainly a fight I would like." Carl Frampton
Frampton returned to the United States for the immediate rematch in January 2017 in Las Vegas and was on the losing end of a majority decision to Santa Cruz in another tremendous battle that cost him the belt. Frampton has won three fights in a row since, including an interim belt when he outpointed former titlist Nonito Donaire in April, to set up the showdown with the 27-year-old Warrington (27-0, 6 KOs). The fight will be Warrington's first defense since he dethroned Lee Selby by split decision on May 19.
Frampton is the favorite to defeat Warrington. And besides the prospect of a Valdez fight, Frampton also has designs on a rubber match with his rival Santa Cruz, though that seems unlikely in the near term because Santa Cruz (35-1-1, 19 KOs) appears headed to a unification fight with Gary Russell Jr. (29-1, 17 KOs) in early 2019.
"(A fight with Valdez is) huge but the Santa Cruz fight is obviously very appealing to me because it would be another unification fight and it would be the decider of the trilogy," Frampton said. "Both huge fights and, to be honest, from here on in to the end of my career I want big fights."
On the Andrade-Kautondokwa undercard, Kid Galahad outpointed Toka Kahn Clary in an elimination bout to become the mandatory challenger for the Warrington-Frampton winner, but Frampton said that is not the kind of fight that interests him.
"(Galahad) isn't a big enough fight for me at this stage of my career," Frampton said. "I know it's the mandatory for the IBF title, but Santa Cruz, Valdez, Gary Russell -- these are the guys (I'm interested in)."
Should the Valdez bout come to fruition, Frampton said a return to the United States, where he has boxed three times, would be welcome.
"I love the States, I love fighting in the States -- 100 percent (willing to return)," he said. "I bring a lot of support with me. I love fighting at home and I'd like to do one more big fight at home before I hang them up. I want one in the States as well."