By Tim Royner: Carl Frampton says he’ll give Scott Quigg a rematch if he wins a world title this Saturday night in his fight against WBO World featherweight champion Oscar Valdez. Frampton (24-1, 14 KOs) doubts Quigg will be able to get the job done against the hard-hitting Valdez (23-0, 19 KOs), but he does give him a puncher’s chance of winning the fight.
Quigg has a very good chance of beating Valdez if he can make him brawl with him for most of the fight. Quigg has the better chin, and he’s got more than enough punching power to beat Valdez. Frampton really undervalues Quigg’s boxing skills and talent. This is a fight that Quigg can not only win but win decisively by knockout.
Quigg (34-1-2, 25 KOs) will be challenging the 27-year-old Valdez at the StubHub Center in Carson, California. Valdez is the favorite, but that doesn’t mean much because he’s struggled in his last 2 fights against Genesis Servania and Miguel Marriaga. Those fights showed more than anything that Valdez is NOT the fighter that many thought he was when he came out of the Olympics six years ago. Valdez has a chin problem that’s not getting better, and it could get even worse when he gets inside the ring with Quigg on Saturday night in their fight on ESPN.
“If he’s a world champion, he’s got something that I want and that’s a world title,” Frampton said to the dailystar.co.uk. “I’ve been saying any time Quigg’s name is brought up that I don’t want anything to do with him unless he wins a world title. So if he wins a world title then we can do a rematch,” Frampton said.
As long as Quigg wins the fight against Valdez, he doesn’t need Frampton for him to receive tons of credit from fans in the boxing world. Quigg would be better off facing Valdez in a rematch and then going after Leo Santa Cruz or Abner Mares than he would in facing Frampton. Those are the more meaningful fights, because Frampton is beginning to look like a faded fighter. With higher quality judging, Frampton could have easily lost his last 4 fights against Quigg, Santa Cruz [x 2] and Horacio Garcia. Those are fights that Frampton could have lost with different judges working.
Quigg fought well enough to deserve a draw against Frampton in their fight in February 2016. Frampton was given a 12 round split decision, but that fight could have gone to Quigg. It’s common knowledge that Frampton was given a gift 12 round majority decision win over Santa Cruz in their first fight in 2016. The second fight was the same as the first, but the only difference is the judges got the decision right in that fight by giving it to Santa Cruz.
Frampton, 31, isn’t a world champion either at this point in his career, and he hasn’t been a world champion since he lost to Leo Santa Cruz in their rematch last year in January 2017. However, Frampton is in the position where he could very soon be a world champion again when he challenges IBF featherweight champion Lee Selby. That’s a winnable fight for Frampton, as Selby is not a puncher, and he has a lot of flaws in his game that a guy like Frampton could expose.
The way Frampton looked in his last fight against Horacio Garcia last November; he might not have enough talent to beat some of the other featherweight champions in the division in Gary Russell Jr., Abner Mares and Oscar Valdez. Frampton already lost to Santa Cruz, and a lot of boxing fans feel that he was beaten twice by him. Frampton was given a close 12 round majority decision in their first fight in July 2016 in New York. That was a strange fight.
Frampton was the visiting fighting in New York against the American Santa Cruz, and yet the crowd was pro-Frampton at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. Frampton might have been given the benefit of the doubt by the judges due to a large group of pro-Frampton boxing fans that came to see him fight.
“There’s a slight chance he can do something, it wouldn’t surprise me if he won but it is going to be difficult. I’m expecting Valdez to win,” Frampton said in predicting a win for Valdez over Quigg.
If Frampton is willing to face the winner of the Valdez-Quigg fight no matter what, then it doesn’t matter which of the two comes out victorious in this fight. I don’t think that’s going to be the case though.
Frampton has a fight next month against former 4 division world champion Nonito Donaire (38-4, 24 KOs) at the SSE Arena in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Frampton never made any effort to face Donaire when he was at his best six years ago in 2012 when the two of them were both fighting at super bantamweight. Frampton was taking on lesser fighters than Donaire like Prosper Ankrah, Raul Hirales and Steve Molitor. It’s interesting that Frampton has waited this long to finally face Donaire.
Frampton likely thinks that Donaire has lost enough from his game for him to beat him now. But you never know thought, as Frampton isn’t much younger than Donaire. There’s only 4 years that separate the two fighters. The way Frampton looked in his last 2 fights against Horacio Garcia and Santa Cruz, he could very well lose to Donaire.
Since the fight is taking place in Belfast, Frampton will probably be safe if it goes to a decision. I think he’ll get the nod even if he appears to lose. A lot of boxing fans thought Frampton lost to Horacio Garcia last November, and that fight took place at the SSE Arena in Belfast. Donaire might need a knockout to get the victory on April 21.
Donaire is now 35-years-old, and he’s lost some of his hand speed and mobility that he possessed earlier in his career. Donaire’s punching power is still quite good. Donaire’s punching power was a lot more formidable when he was fighting at 112, 118 and 122. Donaire was a devastating puncher in those weight classes.