Frampton-Santa Cruz fight confirmed for July 30

6:53 PM ET

The first time Northern Ireland’s Carl Frampton boxed in the United States, he traveled to El Paso, Texas, and was greeted quite rudely by Alejandro Gonzalez Jr.

Gonzalez dropped him twice in the first round, although Frampton survived and eventually won a unanimous decision to retain his junior featherweight world title.

Now Frampton is headed back stateside for a much bigger fight — a move up to the featherweight division to challenge world titleholder Leo Santa Cruz. The fight has been agreed to for some time, but Cyclone Promotions, Frampton’s promoter, announced Thursday the open secret that the fight will take place July 30 (Showtime) at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York, where Frampton figures to be the crowd favorite, thanks to a big Irish community, against the Los Angeles-based Mexican Santa Cruz.

Carl Frampton is coming off the biggest win of his career. He unified junior featherweight world titles via split decision against England’s Scott Quigg on Feb. 27. Alex Livesey/Getty Images

“This is the fight I wanted, and I’m 100 percent confident that the belt will be coming home to Belfast,” Frampton said. “It’s the [same WBA] belt that my manager, Barry McGuigan, held 30 years ago, and it’s fitting that I will have the chance to recapture this …

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