Carl Frampton says he is a 'level above' Windsor Park opponent Luke Jackson

Belfast featherweight Carl Frampton is expecting a "top-quality performance" from opponent Luke Jackson at Windsor Park on 18 August but says that he is a "level above" the Australian.

Frampton, 31, will fulfil a long-held ambition when he fights at the home of the Northern Ireland football team.

"If he performs to his best and I perform to my best, I'm knocking him out, simple as that," said Frampton.

"I'm due a knockout - I haven't knocked anyone out in quite a while."

He added: "I can handle the pressure and I feel a big performance coming on. First and foremost I'll concentrate on the performance and get the win but I have a good feeling about this one."

No pressure on 'underdog' Jackson

Luke Jackson won a bronze medal at the 2006 Commonwealth Games

Frampton beat Nonito Donaire in his last fight at the SSE Arena in Belfast in April but this time a sell-out crowd of 24,000 is set to roar on the former two-weight world champion against Jackson, who has won all of his 16 fights since turning professional in 2013.

"He sees that he's the complete underdog and there's no pressure on him - people are writing him off," Frampton added.

"That can help fighters - when they have no expectation on their shoulders - they can go and perform out of their skin.

"But I'm the better fighter and I feel fit and sharp - I'm where I need to be at this point. I'm kind of holding it back a wee bit as I don't want to peak too soon.

"I believe I'm one of the best supported fighters on the planet and that's down to the passionate Northern Ireland sports fans.

"Obviously with the bill including the likes of Tyson Fury and Paddy Barnes and Steven Ward and Lewis Crocker there's a lot of quality on the bill and we've all combined to help sell it out."

Frampton took the WBO interim featherweight belt with a points win over former four-weight world champion Nonito Donaire in April

Ticket sale concerns prove unfounded

Interim WBO featherweight champion Frampton admits that he feared tickets may not sell as briskly as he had initially hoped when Hobart-based London 2012 Olympian Jackson was named as his opponent but those concerns have been allayed.

"People said 'it doesn't matter who you fight, you're going to sell it out' but then Luke was named as the opponent and because he's not a huge name we got stick even though it was no fault of anyone.

"None of the top boys were available so we picked someone highly ranked by the WBO, not a household name, but a good solid fighter, and we got grief.

"I thought 'we're going to have bother selling this out' but it looks like we are well on the way to selling it out which is incredible."

Frampton is a former world super-bantamweight champion and the only defeat in his pro career was the January 2017 rematch with Leo Santa Cruz.