Carl Frampton will defend his IBF junior featherweight title against Chris Avalos on Feb. 28 at the Odyssey Arena in Frampton’s hometown of Belfast, Northern Ireland, to be televised in the U.S. on AWE – A Wealth of Entertainment.

Frampton is promoted by Cyclone Promotions and Avalos is represented by Top Rank Promotions.

Avalos (25-2, 19 knockouts) had been the mandatory challenger to the WBO belt held by RING champion Guillermo Rigondeaux, who also holds the WBA title.

In September, however, Avalos declined a planned Nov. 22 bout against Rigondeaux that was targeted for either Miami or the Dominican Republic, according to a Tweet by WBO President Paco Valcarcel. This move opened the opportunity for Avalos to pursue a shot at Frampton (19-0, 13 KOs).

Avalos, 25, has won six consecutive fights, four by knockout, including stoppages in the past three since losing via split decision to Jhonatan Romero in December 2011. Avalos is coming off November’s fifth round knockout of Jose Cen Torres.

Avalos became the IBF’s mandatory challenger with his eighth-round stoppage of Yasutaka Ishimoto in May, this, at a time when the organization’s beltholder was Kiko Martinez.

Martinez secured an exception from the IBF to face Frampton rather than Avalos and was dethroned by Frampton via unanimous decision in September. The September bout was a rematch of Frampton’s ninth-round stoppage win from Feb. 2013.