By Lem Satterfield

When WBO interim titleholder Carl Frampton challenges unbeaten IBF counterpart Josh Warrington on Saturday at Manchester Arena in Manchester, England, “The Jackal” returns to the site of his 122-pound unification victory by split-decision over England’s Scott Quigg in February 2016.

Frampton’s triumph added the previously undefeated Quigg’s WBA crown to his IBF version. It was followed by a rise into the 126-pound division in July 2016, when Frampton’s majority decision dethroned WBA champion Leo Santa Cruz in Brooklyn, New York, before he lost their rematch the same way in Las Vegas in January 2017.

”This is a big arena – the biggest in the country,” said Frampton, 31, in a release. “I’ve fought in Manchester Arena before when I beat Scott Quigg. That was a special atmosphere, but this will be even louder.”

By dethroning Warrington (27-0, 6 KOs), Frampton (26-1, 15 KOs) could return to the heights of 2016 when he earned Ring Magazine’s Fighter Of The Year honors.

Frampton also hopes to generate talk of a trilogy with Santa Cruz (35-1-1, 19 KOs), who has taken a stay-busy fight against Miguel Flores (23-2, 11 KOS) on February 16th.

Frampton is fighting for the third time this year and entering his fourth bout under new trainer Jamie Moore, who has guided him through his interim title-winning unanimous decision over four-division champion Nonito Donaire in April and a ninth-ranked TKO in August over previously unbeaten 2012 Olympic team captain Luke Jackson, who was floored by an eighth-round body shot.

“I want to keep this momentum I’ve never had in my career,” said Frampton, a native Belfast, Northern Ireland. “I don’t think I’ve been this busy since 2012 or 2013. It’s incredible to be so active.”

If not a third fight with Santa Cruz, Frampton desires unifications with left-handed WBO counterpart Gary Russell (29-1, 17 KOs) or the WBO’s Oscar Valdez (24-0, 19 KOs) of Mexico.

Valdez has an optional defense against Spain’s Andoni Gago (20-3-3, 6 KOs) on January 12 in Tucson, Arizona, according to a report last month by The Los Angeles Times.

ESPN will televise the fight involving Valdez, his first since suffering a fractured jaw in March during the fifth round of his unanimous decision over Quigg at StubHub Center in Carson, California.

“If I unify then I’m the number one in the division – there’s no doubt about it. That’s an easy question to answer. Straight away, after I beat Warrington, it’s got to be one of the other champions,” said Frampton, during an earlier interview with BoxingScene.com.

“After Warrington, any fight with one of the other champions is all I’m looking at. I don’t want anyone in between. Leo Santa Cruz, Gary Russell Jr. or Oscar Valdez – I’ll take any of them. Santa Cruz is the one I want the most because we’ve each won a fight against the other. That’s the one I keep talking about. If I didn’t get that fight, both the Valdez fight and the Russell Jr. fights could be made.”