Irish boxing legend Carl Frampton is backing Michael Conlan to win on Saturday night but says his opponent selection is risky.
Conlan returns to Belfast to fight at The SSE Arena, against Colombian boxer Miguel Marriaga, five months later from his dramatic loss to Leigh Wood.
The ending saw Conlan knocked out of the ring in the final round after a dramatic WBA featherweight title fight.
Marriaga may not have won big on her record but shared the ring with Nicholas Walters, Oscar Valdez and Vasiliy Lomachenko. Of his 30 wins, 26 have ended in the gap.
Writing in his column for the Belfast Telegraph Frampton is backing his countryman to win and credit him for what he describes as a risky fight.
“Michael Conlan may have made a much less risky fight to get back in the ring, but for his credit he is jumping in with Miguel Marriaga, who is a big threat despite being in the ring. veteran stage of his career.”
“Once I knew who the opponent was going to be, I thought it was a very brave fight.”
“Marriaga is a boxer, a good boxer who has fought at world level before, so this just shows what Mick is when he’s ready to go into a fight like this.”
Frampton, like the others, would not blame Conlan for doing something much more often and frankly after the defeat to Wood.
“This is a dangerous fight for him and, really, you can give him a goodbye ball for having an easier touch coming back from such a brutal fight with Wood. , but he jumped right back into the abyss here and back into the world title fight. “
A former Frampton two-division world champion has given Belfast some of the best boxing nights but he has also suffered setbacks during his successful career. Leo Santa Cruz, in a rematch, Josh Warrington and Jamel Herring (in Frampton’s final fight) both bested ‘The Jackal’.
“I know what it feels like to come back from a loss and my mindset is just to win – pure and simple. Two losses can be very hard to come by and actually make life harder again. “
“I support him in this match and give him all the credit in the world for joining such a risky fight. People want to see a good game and he understands that.”
