Irish fans took the roof off Vegas last night as Belfast's undefeated world champion Carl Frampton weighed in for another date with destiny.
'The Jackal' throws down with his rival-slash-chum Leo 'El Terremoto' Santa Cruz at the MGM Grand (sometime between 4am and 5:30am Irish time, Sky Sports) on his Vegas debut - a rematch of their fight-of-the-year contender in Brooklyn last July.
Last night, Frampton and Santa Cruz made weight for one of the most feverishly anticipated boxing rematches in recent history, but crucially, the vociferous Irish fans left their mark.
Having been edged on points by Frampton last summer, Santa Cruz and team maintained that the 1,500 or so travelling Frampton supporters - and the Irish-American contingent in New York - had swayed the judges during tight and relatively even exchanges. As such, they demanded that a rematch take place in either California or Vegas, where more Mexican and Mexican-American fans could make noise for the popular three-weight world champion.
The McGuigans and Frampton agreed. The issue now facing Santa Cruz, however, is that up to 5,000 fans are said to have travelled from both sides of the Irish border to Vegas. And by Christ did they make noise for the undefeated Tigers Bay man when he emerged last night.
It would be remiss not to draw comparisons with Ricky Hatton's own Vegas odyssey a decade ago; since 'The Hitman', we haven't seen fans from this side of the Atlantic swarm Vegas with such fervour (in boxing, that is). It would also be fair to suggest that, regardless of tomorrow's result, boxing will welcome the Frampton army back to the Vegas strip in the near future.
Sea of green #framptonSantacruz2 pic.twitter.com/uxVZ9aS9AK
— Kevin Byrne (@KevByrneBox) January 27, 2017
I hear Ireland has took over Vegas!! Good luck tomorrow @RealCFrampton #AndStill #FramptonSantaCruz2
— Michael Conlan (@mickconlan11) January 28, 2017
Both Frampton and Santa Cruz weighed in exactly a pound below the featherweight limit, and while there were no fireworks during the staredown between two fighters who, as much as anything, thoroughly enjoy each other's company outside of the ring, there will be plenty beneath the blinding lights of the MGM Grand tomorrow night.
Later today we'll bring you our written breakdown of the fight, but for now, you can check out five-time national champion Eric Donovan call the fight in the brand new episode of The Irish Boxing Show below (and, if you'd like, his physical demonstration in the video beneath it).
