By Keith Idec
If you’re wondering just how devoted Carl Frampton’s fans can be, meet Keith Dallas.
The former amateur boxer from Belfast needs new front teeth, but he used the money he made recently from selling his wife’s car to pay for a trip to Las Vegas to watch Frampton fight Leo Santa Cruz again. Frampton estimates that about 4,000 fans from the United Kingdom will travel to Las Vegas to support him during his 12-round, 126-pound rematch against Santa Cruz on January 28 at MGM Grand Garden Arena (Showtime).
The undefeated Frampton is truly thankful for every one of his fans, but especially appreciative of Dallas after Dallas told him that story Wednesday night.
“He sold his wife’s car, so him and his wife could come to the fight,” Frampton told BoxingScene.com following a press conference Thursday in Los Angeles to promote the fight. “He sold his wife’s car. He bought her a different car, but it’s not a very good car. So he downgraded to come out to the fight. I don’t know how that went down with the wife, but that’s the fanatical fan base that I have and I’m very honored to have it.”
Northern Ireland’s Frampton listened to the story in disbelief as it was relayed to him by Dallas, a former amateur boxer who once trained at the same gym as Frampton.
“First of all, I laughed,” Frampton said. “I thought he was crazy. I think about my own wife, and what she would do if I had done something like that. It wouldn’t go down well. I just laughed. He got his teeth knocked out recently as well. He’s looking to find himself a new set of teeth. But when he found a bit of money [from selling the car], he spent it on going to the fight rather than that. That’s amazing.
“But when you think about it in hindsight, it’s a huge thing. These people are putting themselves under a lot of pressure financially, just to come out and support me. So I’m very, very grateful.”
The 29-year-old Frampton (23-0, 14 KOs) said between 1,500 and 2,000 fans came from the UK for his first fight against Santa Cruz (32-1-1, 18 KOs), July 30 at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center. Frampton, who won a majority decision and the WBA super world featherweight title, and Santa Cruz thrilled them by producing non-stop action that made their 12-rounder a “Fight of the Year” candidate.
“At the same time as the fight in Brooklyn,” Frampton said, “Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland both qualified for the European football, or soccer, championships. So there were a lot of people entranced with that and they couldn’t afford to make the trip out. But I think there were probably 1,500 that traveled across [the Atlantic Ocean]. And then, obviously, you pick up a lot of support from the East Coast Irish-American community as well. So between 1,500 and 2,000 traveled over to New York. So we’ll double that for Vegas.”
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.
