Avalos Unafraid of Challenging Frampton in Ireland
Photo by Mary Ann Owen/Top Rank
Lancaster, Ca. – CHRIS AVALOS is wiring in for his title fight, training at the Durango Boxing Club here in town and sparring twice a week at the WILD CARD GYM IN HOLLYWOOD. Avalos, 25-2, 19 KOs, is getting set to take on IBF super bantamweight world champion CARL FRAMPTON in his hometown at the Odyessy Arena, Belfast, on February 28.
“Chris is ready to rock,” said his manager Mike Criscio. “I think Chris will dominate Frampton. Chris is very tough, strong, has a lot of pride and is hungry to win a world championship.” Avalos, 25, has a record of 25-2, 19 KOs. Frampton is 19-0 with 13 KOs. Avalos was born in San Diego and now lives and trains in Lancaster.
“My dad Felipe is my coach. I’ve got four brothers and two sisters. I am second youngest of the boys. I used to get into fights in school. All of my brothers started boxing but they train now. I’m the only one who stuck with it, since I was 11 when I started,” Avalos said.
He had 104 amateur bouts – 96 wins, 14 losses – and fought in a number of national tournaments.
“I’ve been working on using a lot of combinations. I used to be straight-ahead brawling but we’re boxing more, throwing more jabs, mixing it up,” he said.
Avalos won an IBF eliminator when he won by TKO 8 over Yasutaka Ishimoto, 24-6, on a co-feature bout with the NONITO DONAIRE vs Simphiwe Vetyeka title fight last May 31 at the Cotai Arena inside of the Venetian Macao.
CARL MORETTI, VP of Boxing Operations at Top Rank, likes Avalos in the world title fight in Belfast.
“Carl Frampton is a terrific young champion, but with Chris’ punching power it really doesn’t matter where the fight is. The partisan crowd won’t affect Chris at all. He has one goal, to become the new IBF champion. There will be plenty of celebrating after the fight, but it will be Chris and his team having the honors.”
