By Scott Gilfoid: Gary Hyde, the manager for WBA/WBO super bantamweight champion Guillermo Rigondeaux (13-0, 8 KO’s), called out unbeaten contender Carl Frampton (18-0, 13 KO’s) today after his 2nd round TKO win over 36-year-old Hugo Fidel Cazares (40-8-2, 27 KO’s) in their fight at the Odyssey Arena, Belfast, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom.
Hype is offering to bring Rigondeaux over to Belfast so that Frampton can fight against the best fighter in the super bantamweight division with both of his world titles – WBA and WBO – on the line for the fight instead of just one.
Hyde said on his twitter: “Congrats to Frampton. Now why go to USA to fight Santa Cruz when we will bring Rigo ‘El Chacal’ to Belfast? Let’s do it. Forget crossing the Atlantic to face Santa Cruz. Let’s do it in Belfast. El Chacal vs. The Jackal. Belfast and put both his world titles on the line against Carl. Carl is without doubt one of the top 122lb fighters in the world and very worthy of a crack at both of Rigo’s titles.”
It didn’t take long for Frampton to comment on the idea of him facing the talented Rigondeaux, as he told IFL TV “I want to deal with Santa Cruz, then we can start looking at guys like Rigondeaux. If you want to get to the top, Rigondeaux is the guy you have to beat.”
I don’t see Frampton taking the fight against Rigondeaux anytime soon, if ever. Heck, even if Frampton were to beat Santa Cruz, which I don’t think he has the talent to do, I still don’t see him taking a fight against Rigondeaux. That guy can fight, and he would likely clown Frampton for 12 rounds, and pitch a 12 round shutout. But it is telling that Frampton isn’t interested in fighting him. He obviously knows that Rigondeaux would do a number on him.
It’s interesting that Frampton would rather travel outside of Belfast to fight for one belt against the lesser of the two champions Leo Santa Cruz rather than take the top guy in Rigondeaux for two titles in front of his own fans in Belfast. Rigondeaux’s manager Hyde is saying that Rigondeaux will come to Belfast to face Frampton in front of his own Irish fans, and yet Frampton still isn’t interested in taking that fight. What does that tell you? I smell fear. Frampton beats an old guy in Cazares, who the WBC had ranked way above where he should have been, but he doesn’t want to fight Rigondeaux even with more titles on the line in front of his own fans. How disappointing.
Frampton’s win over Cazares makes him the WBC 122lb mandatory challenger for champion Leo Santa Cruz. For Frampton to get the fight against Santa Cruz, he’s likely going to need to travel to the United States, though, because Santa Cruz is promoted by Golden Boy Promotions, a U.S based promotional company, and they’re not going to want one of their youngest stars to fight outside of the U.S against a fighter that the casual boxing fans in the U.S have no clue about.
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