The University of Texas at El Paso is a deceptive place. Luckily, as one of the sweetest scientists to come out of Ireland in recent memory, Carl Frampton is well aware that it's always about the angles.
An aerial view of UTEP gives the impression of a compact, cosy campus. But step foot on university grounds and the picture changes utterly. The terrain is dusty, rocky, outcroppy. Carved into the hills at the northern part of the campus sit the Sun Bowl Stadium, a 51,000-seater american football amphitheatre, and the Don Haskins Arena, normally a house of basketball, that holds upwards of 12,000. It is in the latter venue where Frampton will make his US debut tonight.
"We are here because, number one, the most important factor, we are going into every home in America" - Barry McGuigan
It would be hard to find an educational institute that sits at a more marked crossroads. A couple of miles north and you're in a different state, New Mexico. A couple of miles south and you're in a different country, old Mexico. Yet here, this corner of west, west Texas, seems a pretty fitting place for Frampton, the IBF super bantamweight champion of the world, to make his first American appearance.
In so many respects, Frampton finds himself at a crossroads. The best kind imaginable - one of his own making. While so many have crossed the Atlantic looking to repair broken dreams or rescue one last pay day in their declining years, he has made the same journey across the ocean in a markedly better state of health, he's a 28-year-old with a title.
Frampton has fought 20 times and won them all, 14 of them ahead of the timekeeper's schedule. He looks a fighter who is perched on the precipice of his prime. The original plan for this weekend in high summer may not have involved a trio to territory such as this. A hotly-anticipated fight with Scott Quigg on more familiar ground seemed much more likely.
Yet just as Frampton and his support staff of myriad McGuigans have had a nice knack of finding since the Belfast tyro turned pro in 2009, things have again fallen their way. They couldn't be breaking into the US at a better time.
Frampton is in and around boxing's most exciting weight classes, divisions ram-packed with fighters who put bums on seats and then get people to their feet. Guillermo Rigondeaux and Vasyl Lomachenko, Abner Mares and Leo Santa Cruz. Those respective pairings both meet in coming months as things are expected to significantly shake up.
Since becoming IBF champion, Frampton has usually been in the same conversation as the above names. He was kept in mind but he was out of sight - over there. Now, finally, he's here. America is about to get a chance to see what all the fuss was about. And not just some of America, all of it.
In siding with Al Haymon's Premier Boxing Champions, Barry McGuigan has put his protege into every Stateside sitting room this evening.
"We are here because, number one, the most important factor, we are going into every home in America," said McGuigan this week. "It doesn't matter whether the fight was in Alaska or in Texas, we're going into every living room in America. That was the most important thing. We've got a matinee show here, a prime time slot back home, you cannot get better than that."
Now, of course, it's up to Frampton to light up those homes the way he has lit up his homeland over the past six years and more. Standing on the other side of the ring tonight is Alejandro Gonzalez Jr. The Mexican has been a pro for six years too but is still only 22. He has fights in the tank but he also has a jarring defeat last year that stalled his progress significantly.
Nothing in the intervening time points to Gonzalez Jr (25-1-2) emulating his famed father and becoming a world champion tonight. An evasive fighter he won't live up to the brawling stereotype of his countrymen, even if he will be in front of a familiar crowd. McGuigan expects his charge will have to chase the fight, but he foresees a successful chase.
"It's an introduction to America and there's huge pressure in that. He's expected to win which is a bit of a drag. We know this kid is better than [people think], I think he's better than [Chris] Avalos [who Frampton defeated in February], simply because he won't come to Carl," said McGuigan, revelling in the return to US shores.
"Carl is going to have to go looking for him. He fresh and he's got a decent left hook. But I think Carl is a better fighter than him in every department. I want him to look impressive. I think he will be impressive. He always is."
Frampton's crossroads is not like most others. Once he navigates tonight's milestone, all routes will lay open before the Jackal in what is sure to be a huge 12 months. Right now none seem like the wrong direction.
"We get through this one, we make a big impression. Then we'll have a fight at home," says McGuigan. "If Quigg doesn't get through Saturday night against Kiko then we will have to rethink, if he does then we will fight him.
"Then maybe we'll be back here to the US, on the east coast, to New York, Boston or Philly for St Patrick's Day. Hopefully the winner of Mares/Santa Cruz will be alongside us to tease a summer showdown. We'll pack out the east coast but we'd pack out the west coast too because I really think Carl is going to take off.
"He's already taken Ireland, the UK, Europe by storm. He is perfectly suited to America. He's humble. He's a good-looking kid with a phenomenal physique He's just a delightful fighter to watch. It's going to be a delight watching him conquer the US now too."
