Carl Frampton to face Darren Traynor on Saturday in London

Carl Frampton will face late replacement Darren Traynor in a 10-round lightweight bout Saturday at the BT Sport Studio in London, Top Rank announced.

The card will be televised on ESPN in the U.S.

Frampton was scheduled to fight Vahram Vardanyan, an Armenian who lives in Latvia, but he couldn’t get into the U.K. as a result of visa issues and pulled out of the fight last week.

MTK Global, Frampton’s management company, reportedly had been paying Traynor for several weeks in preparation for just such an emergency.

Traynor (16-3, 7 KOs) is a two-time Scottish titleholder but hasn’t faced an opponent of Frampton’s caliber.

Frampton (27-2, 15 KOs) is a former two-division world titleholder and 2018 Fighter of the Year. He hasn’t fought since he shut out Tyler McCreary last November.

“I’m delighted to get an opponent over the line,” Frampton stated in a news release. “I have to credit MTK Global for seeing there could have been issues with the original opponent getting into the country, and they have been paying Darren Traynor for a number of weeks to train.

“He’ll be in decent shape and will be up for it as well. There is no pressure on him, but it is up to me to look good. I want to be taking this guy out and then moving on to think about Jamel Herring.

“I can’t be complacent in the slightest. I know I’m the big favorite in the fight, but I want to win and want to look good, and I want to win by knockout. I feel like he’s a better opponent as he’s fought at a higher level than Vardanyan, and he’s coming in at lightweight.

“I haven’t made my debut at junior lightweight yet, and I’m already jumping in at lightweight, so that’s obviously a little bit in his favor. But I’m looking forward to not having to struggle at all in fight week and then putting on an explosive show.”

Said Frank Warren, Frampton’s co-promoter: “Carl is gunning for a third world title at a third different weight and cannot afford any mishaps on Saturday night. Darren Traynor is ready to step in and fully prepared to give Carl the competitive fight he needs before heading into a WBO world championship battle against Jamel Herring, hopefully, later this year.”