Carl Frampton Breaks Down Canelo Alvarez vs Terence Crawford

Danica Falun for Boxing News. Delighted to be joined by Carv Frampton here in Belfast. Carv, do you want to get your thoughts? Lewis Crocker, Paddy Donovan, Windsor Park. Now I was there when you boxed Luke Jackson and even being here this fight week it's brought up memories for me of seeing Ricky Hatton at the Europa Hotel, the stuff with Deontay Wilder and Billy Joe Saunders and then things were a bit blurry by the time you were walking to the ring against Luke Jackson but an incredible atmosphere. For you personally has this brought back fond memories? Yeah of course I mean I'm, it's not about me anymore it's about the new boys coming through and I'm just buzzing to be a part of it but you know I've got fond memories of Windsor Park that I'll take with me to the day I die and I imagine it's gonna be the same case for the two boys tomorrow night especially whoever wins it. We've just had the weigh-in, what did you make of the demeanor from Lewis and Paddy both in there half an hour ago and throughout the week? Paddy's been very confident in the whole build-up. I've seen him a number of weeks ago and you could see the kind of confidence just glowing from him. Lewis Crocker had the demeanor that you know people are talking about his demeanor and maybe it's seems to be a bit negative but what will you expect after that performance and I think there's a time to get confident and there's a time to kind of start making a bit of noise and you don't need to be wasting energy too far out from the fight and I've seen a different side of Lewis tonight and it seems like he's a guy that's up for it but Paddy just oozes confidence as well and has been ever since this fight was made. You said before the weigh-in started with Jamie and Darren that the pressure in a sense is off Lewis for this one. How much of an impact can that have? You've fought with massive pressure, you've fought obviously on the way up. How much of a factor can that play particularly in front of such a big crowd? When you're expected to win that always brings a different type of pressure and I think the most pressurized fights that I went into were fights where the whole world thinks it's easy, you're just going to win, you just have to show up to win. So in a sense that people know how difficult it was for Lewis the last time so I don't think there is a lot of pressure on him anymore but he needs to go and improve, he needs to do things a lot different, he needs to get close to Paddy and when he does get close, stay close. Let the hands go a lot more and move his head a bit more but all these things are easier said than done. Carl, while I've got you, I'm going to get your thoughts on the action state side. Canelo Alvarez of course coming in against Terence Crawford. Again, similar to what I asked you about Lewis and Paddy, what have you made of the demeanor? It's not been a fiery build-up, both men obviously getting very well paid. What have you made of the press events this week? I kind of imagined that's how it would go. I think both guys, considering what they've both done in their careers, they've got to have a lot of respect for one another and that's what I've seen and what I expected to see but I'm looking forward to the fight. I don't know if it's going to be the most exciting fight in the world. I have a feeling it might be a bit of a stinker. I have a feeling that Crawford is going to nick it. I think if he does nick it, it does kind of have to be a stinker. He has to move and use his feet. I think Canelo's feet aren't what they once were but certainly he's a stronger man in the fight. I think we're going to see a very close one, possibly even a draw but you put a gun to my head. I would say Crawford and a close points decision. You talk a bit about the fight maybe not catching fire in the way some are expecting. If Terence Crawford is to win the fight, does it have to be that sort of fight and leading from that, can he hurt Canelo Alvarez? I don't think so. I mean look at the shots guys like Golovkin bounced off Canelo's head. It's almost like he's unhurtable. We've seen him hurt by Miguel Caro's brother a number of years ago but that was it really and he was a young boy so I think that I don't expect to see Terence hurting or being able to hurt Canelo but there's a way he can win the fight and that is by outboxing him. If Terence Crawford does win as you're predicting, does he rival Alexander Yusek for that number one pound-for-pound spot? I've never really thought about it but that's a good question and he'd certainly been, yeah I think it's a good question and a worthy question. I don't know but I think you put him up. I think if he beats Canelo, I think Yusek is still for me pound-for-pound number one but Crawford goes in that number two spot and it's like that much of a difference. I saw a clip of Terence today and he said that a loss for either him or Canelo doesn't really damage their legacy. They're both first ballot Hall of Famers which I don't think anyone would agree disagree with that part but particularly for Canelo Alvarez there has been a bit more criticism come on his way over the David Benavidez fight not materializing. If he was to lose to a career like Walter Waite and Terence Crawford, would that take any of the shine off his career? I think out of the two guys it would affect his career more so than Terence's if Terence lost to Canelo but I still think his legacy would be cemented and he would go down as one of the best fighters certainly of a generation anyway. Someone that I've loved to watch but I think if he lost to Terence Crawford it maybe would impact the legacy a little bit. The last thing I want to get your thoughts on Karl because I know you're shooting back off to the family. A clip from the press conference has gone viral of Dana Waite having a back-and-forth with Sean Zettel an American journalist over the proposed TKO boxing league and trying to restructure boxing in a way similar to the UFC model. Do you think that model can work in boxing? Eddie Hearns expressed some doubts. What are your thoughts on it? I don't really know. I don't even know what the model is or how. I would need to look into it a little bit more before. I think the crux of it is doing away with all the belts. Boxing becoming more of like a franchise like the NBA and the NFL. I get it but then you know you look at some of the some of the issues and the problems that the UFC fighters are complaining about and one of them is money whereas they probably don't get rewarded financially as they should but I like the idea of it but it's gonna be easier said than done but I do I do like the idea of only having one world champion or one legitimate guy in each weight division but there'll be a lot of backlash from it. There'll be people that don't want it to happen specifically the guys in the four main governing bodies but we'll see time will tell. I know I said last one but one last one because I don't think this fight has really got the attention it deserves. Noey Anuyeh merged on Akhmed Aliyev this weekend obviously sort of fell on a bad week if you're trying to promote that fight. Is there any way Akhmed Aliyev can pull it off do you think? Oh absolutely yeah he has a chance to win the fight I think more than a chance. I still have Anuyeh as a favorite but MJ's a quality fighter, punches hard. We've seen that Anuyeh is starting to get hurt a little bit more often and you know you gotta remember I think he started late flyweight so he's naturally not even a super bottom weight he's coming up the divisions there's gonna be a ceiling for him and it's probably super bottom or feather possibly the next one I don't even see him fighting it super feather but there's a chance MJ's a good fighter and he has a chance. Garth Brampton thanks for the time all the best.