By Shaun Brown

The day of the ‘Jackal’ has finally arrived for Carl Frampton (18-0, 13 KOs) and his thousands of fans.

Tonight at the Titanic Quarter in Belfast, 16,000 Frampton fans will make a noise that will be as unique as the location itself. Everything from the venue to the opponent is in place for Frampton to become world champion and beat a man that he already knocked out en route to a win in Feb 2013. A man, in Kiko Martinez (31-4, 23 KOs), who in 2014 is the reigning and defending IBF super bantamweight champion of the world.

And for the first time, Carla Frampton, Carl’s young daughter will be in attendance for one of her Dad’s fights and provide another voice for the man from the Tiger’s Bay area of the city to draw inspiration from, should he need it of course.

BoxingScene.com caught up with the world title challenger just over a week before his rematch with Kiko Martinez to talk about the champion, their first fight, pressure, Leo Santa Cruz and more.

Boxing Scene: All set then?

Frampton: Yep. Can’t wait. Looking forward to it. It’s slowly come round. I’ve been counting down the days. They’ve started building the stadium, I’ve seen some pictures on Twitter. It’s all exciting but it’s gonna drag in coz I’m busting to go.

Boxing Scene: You’ve already beat this guy so what do you for the second fight?

Frampton: Do you know what, it’s all about Kiko’s style and how we adapt and that’s with our sparring partners, how we train and everything around that. We know what to expect from Kiko. He’s had 30 plus fights and every single one of them he’s just been aggressive coming forward. He’s not gonna change now. I expect the same sort of fighter, maybe with a bit of confidence but maybe not because the last time he fought me he was knocked out. He possibly could be a little bit fitter. But we write everything down, we look closely at what we done for training for the last Kiko fight. We’ve done a lot of similar stuff and a little bit more to be honest with you. The game plan is slightly different this time and we’ve done a bit more. It’s been one or two weeks extra on top of a normal training camp just because it’s a world title and it’s very important. I know I need to be in the shape of my life to win it. We are hoping and we think we know what to expect from Kiko.

Boxing Scene: That first fight, Carl, have you watched it back recently?

Frampton: I watched it today. I don’t like watching it to be honest because there’s lot of mistakes I made in the fight. I sat down and watched it today and obviously I made mistakes but I watched it closely. I was winning the rounds but he was pushing me hard, they weren’t easy rounds. It was quite a tough fight. I knocked him out at the end of the ninth round, I’d say he probably won the eighth and maybe the sixth and I won the rest and knocked him out. Those were close rounds and it was a hard fight but I was still in control. But, again, I’ve trained very hard for this one. I don’t like to watch things too much. I made mistakes but I won’t make them again and I’m definitely going to win this fight.

Boxing Scene: How would you say you’ve evolved as a fighter, Carl, but also as a man as well?

Frampton: I think I’ve become a much better fighter, certainly. I’ve grew up myself too. I got married since, I already had my daughter at the time and she’s grown up and I’ve got another baby on the way. I’ve had an offer accepted on a house. Mortgages to pay and all that. I’ve a lot of motivations for this fight, a lot of reasons. Not only because there’s a world title on the line, that’s what I’ve been dreaming of since I started boxing, but I’ve got people to look after now. A wife, what will soon be two kids and bills and stuff to pay. All that stuff’s gonna add up. This’ll be the first time my daughter, Carla, has been ringside. Everyone wants to be at it. Hopefully she’s fine, I’ve been talking to her a lot about it and I think she will be. There’s no way I’m going to let Kiko Martinez beat me and embarrass me in front of my daughter. I’m just not going to allow it to happen.

Boxing Scene: The fact she’s at the fight, is that something you’ll be able to switch off from?

Frampton: Of course. I’ve had my wife at the fights, I’ve had very close friends and family come to the fights. It doesn’t affect me, I remain cool the whole way through and I switch off. I switch off from all that stuff and I switch on for my opponent because that’s all my thinking about. And when I get into the corner the only person I’m listening to is (trainer) Shane [McGuigan]. I can switch on and off whenever I please. I think it’s important. Especially when you’re at the top end, big title fights where there’s a lot of distractions and there’s gonna be 16,000 people there making a lot of noise so it’s very important to remain cool and just stay focused.

Boxing Scene: It’s gonna be a very special night with a unique atmosphere and emotions running high. Do you need to prepare different, mentally, for that?

Frampton: I won’t do anything different. I’ve boxed in front of big crowds before at the Odyssey Arena [in Belfast]. There’s expectation, people just expect me to win this fight. That’s not the case. I’m trying to say to people this isn’t a foregone conclusion it’s a hard fight. But I haven’t done anything different. This is easily gonna be the biggest crowd. I just regard it as another day at the office. I try to blank everything out and if I perform the way I have been in sparring and focus for three minutes of every round there’s only going to be one winner. That’s how I approach it. Another day at the office and I’m gonna win the fight and be world champion and it’s gonna be a dream come true.

Boxing Scene: Where would say this fight is going to be won and lost?

Frampton: The only reason I can lose this fight is if I get silly, maybe get complacent, but I’m not gonna do it. I got complacent once in my career before against Robbie Turley (in 2011). First fight on Sky, trying to impress and thought I was just gonna knock the guy out and it didn’t happen. It wasn’t a hard night, I probably won eight of the ten rounds but he was tricky and awkward and wasn’t easy as I thought. That happened through complacency. From that fight I haven’t got complacent with anyone since and I’m certainly not gonna get complacent with Kiko. I know all about him, he’s dangerous. He’s a big puncher and I need to be aware at all times. I need to be smart, I need to be focused and I should be fine.

Boxing Scene: Kiko has had some good wins since he became champion, do you think he’s improved as a fighter?

Frampton: I think it’s gonna be the exact same guy. People talk about he’s maybe got a bit more confidence. How confident is he gonna be when he’s standing looking at the guy who beat him and knocked him out? I don’t know. He may have more confidence. He’s definitely out for revenge. He doesn’t like me and he’s said it before. That makes him dangerous, he’s an emotional person and that makes him dangerous because he’s easy wound up. He’s wild and that also makes him dangerous. It’s up to me, the ball is completely in my court. He may have improved a little bit but I know how much I’ve improved and that’s gonna be the difference.

Boxing Scene: We were expecting you to fight Leo Santa Cruz. What happened there?

Frampton: I was in the start of training camp and we were hoping for the Santa Cruz fight. Golden Boy and Santa Cruz seemed keen for the fight too. If I got [Hugo] Cazares out the road they were talking about having it next and that’s what we wanted. I was mandatory for Santa Cruz because I beat Cazares but Golden Boy are big players in this division and had Al Haymon behind them. It could’ve been a Kell Brook situation that saw me on the backburner for years. I didn’t want to wait that long.

After the Cazares fight we were trying to make the Santa Cruz fight from our end. Then I remember sitting down for lunch one day. I was over here training but it’s hard to train when you don’t know what’s going on and I was a bit in limbo. (Promoter) Barry’s son, Jake (McGuigan), called me out from wherever I was having lunch and said ‘I think we’ve just made the Kiko fight’ and that was a complete shock to me. A good surprise. I was happy.

Fighting for a world title and fighting in Belfast. The ball’s in my court but I have to give the team a lot of credit. There’s been a lot of money paid out to get him here, that’s for sure. I know how much Kiko’s being paid and it’s a hell of a lot more than he’s ever been paid before and rightly so, he’s the champion and he deserves it. But it’s up to me now to take the title off him now.

Boxing Scene: 18 fights, five years as a pro, do you feel this is the right moment to step up and win a world title?

Frampton: I think it’s a perfect time. I’ve had a few hard fights, a few 12 rounders and stuff. A few fights fell through. A ball breaker with Kiko for the European title too. I’m not one of these weirdos that talk about destiny and all that crap but everything has fallen into place. It feels right and it feels now is the time. I feel ready to win a world title, not only win it but defend it. There are some guys who get there a bit too early and can beat the champion at the time but when it comes to defending it, it’s a different story. I’ve only got 18 fights in my career but I think I’m experienced enough to defend it a lot of times and we’ll think about the next move after that. Maybe go up a division to featherweight.