Carl Frampton has revealed that the only footage he has seen of the man who stands in the way of his shot at a world title is from a television game show.
The Belfast super-bantamweight takes on French contender Jeremy Parodi in a world title eliminator this weekend, with the winner set to challenge for the IBF crown early next year.
Though Frampton has been hard in training, preparing at the gym of his promoter Barry McGuigan in London's Battersea Park, he admits most of his inside knowledge about the 26-year-old Parodi (35-1-1 9KOs) comes from watching him take part in a French television show.
"This fight against Parodi, who's only one stop behind me in the IBF rankings, is all about getting myself into a mandatory position for a world title shot," said Frampton, unbeaten in all 16 of his fights in the paid ranks with 11 stoppages.
"I've seen very little footage of Parodi but I did see him on a French version of Fort Boyard on YouTube the other day and he failed the task! He had to pull himself along and get the key but ended up falling off.
"I was watching it thinking 'I would've passed that test!' That's all I've seen. If he can't pass a task like that on Fort Boyard then I just don't know."
Frampton is well aware of the importance of the fight knowing that his world title challenge could be against Kiko Martinez, who he beat earlier this year but who subsequently went on to claim the IBF super-bantamweight world title against Columbian Jhonatan Romero in August.
"It was a little frustrating seeing Kiko Martinez go on and win the world title after beating him. I was thinking that it could have been me," he said.
"But you have to take the positives out of everything, and the positives are that I beat a world champion and knocked him out.
"This fight coming up is an eliminator for the world title and hopefully I will take on the winner of Jeffrey Mathebula-Martinez early next year.
"I'll be the number one in the IBF after this next fight. Things happen for a reason. I always believed I was going to be a world champion. So what if Kiko Martinez is world champion before me? As long as I'm world champion one day."
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