By Scott Gilfoid: It looks like IBF super bantamweight champion Carl Frampton’s 5th round stoppage win over #1 IBF Chris Avalos (25-3, 19 KOs) last Saturday night may have gone to Frampton’s manager Barry McGuigan’s head, because he’s now talking about Frampton being the best fighter in the boxing world.
Presumably, McGuigan thinks that Frampton is even better than WBC super bantamweight champion Leo Santa Cruz and WBA/WBO super bantamweight champion Guillermo Rigondeaux, two fighters who many boxing fans see as the best in the division.
McGuigan said “This guy [Frampton] is the best fighter in the world, and we aim to prove it.”
I saw the Frampton vs. Avalos fight last Saturday night, and from what I could see, Frampton didn’t look even close to being the best fighter in the 122 pound division. Yeah, Frampton looked like the better fighter than Avalos last Saturday in their fight at the Odyssey Arena, in Belfast, Northern Ireland, UK. I give Frampton that, but I don’t think he’s even close to being as good as Santa Cruz and Rigondeaux.
What’s interesting is McGuigan saying that he sees Frampton as being the best fighter in the world, yet, he’s positioning him to fight WBA regular super bantamweight champion Scotto Quigg rather than Rigondeaux or Santa Cruz. I mean, if McGuigan honestly thinks that Frampton is the best fighter in the world at 122, then why in the heck is he looking to match him against Quigg instead of Rigondeaux and Santa Cruz?
This is what McGuigan said about a fight between Frampton and Rigondeaux:
“We’re not interested in Rigondeaux. He makes no money and no brings no TV,” McGuigan said via ESPN.co.uk. “He can’t draw 500 Cubans in Miami. This is a business. Don’t get me wrong, he’s fabulous but he’s awkward and negative.”
Does that seem like a manager who is interested in matching his fighter against the best? McGuigan is basically dismissing Rigondeaux as a potential opponent for Frampton with this statement. When you get a manager making excuses for his fighter for why he can’t fight a two-belt champion like Rigondeaux, then that suggests that we’re probably never going to see those two fighters facing each other. As such, Frampton can never become the best if his manager isn’t going to put him in with Rigondeaux.
At best, Frampton will be the IBF belt holder with his wins over guys like Kiko Martinez and Chris Avalos, but he still won’t be perceived as the best fighter in the division until he fights Rigondeaux and proves that he can beat him.
At 28, Frampton can wait out the 34-year-old Rigondeaux until the Cuban star retires from the game before looking to capture his WBA and WBO titles. But if Rigondeaux sticks around for another 4-6 years, then Frampton will likely be overtaken by another super bantamweight division. You have to remember that Frampton is 28. In four to six years, he’ll be in his mid-30s and likely showing signs of fading as a fighter.
I don’t see the point in McGuigan wanting to match Frampton with Quigg, because this guy isn’t see as being in the league with Rigondeaux and Santa Cruz. To me, that comes across like someone tackling the easy part of a task rather than taking the tougher part first to see if you measure up.
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