By Scott Gilfoid: Fresh off of his rather dull 12 round unanimous decision win over Raul Hirales last Saturday night, unbeaten Carl Frampton (14-0, 9 KO’s) could be taking a step up in class to face EBU super bantamweight champion Kiko Martinez (26-3, 19 KO’s) in September.

I think that would be biting off a little more than the 25-year-old Frampton can chew, however. I see Martinez as being too strong for Frampton, and much too experienced. I can’t see Frampton winning that fight.

I came away extremely disappointed in what I saw of Frampton in the Hirales bout this past weekend. This was slight step up for Frampton, but it might as well been a mountain of a step up because he looked plainly awful in my eyes. I thought I was watching a smaller version of Paul McCloskey with all the running Frampton was doing. I’ve seen Frampton fight like that before, but I can understand why he did it. Each time Frampton would stop moving, Hirales would be right there on top of him, landing his harder shots. Hirales looked to be the tougher fighter and the much sturdier guy at this weight. Frampton looked like he was literally forced into moving just to survive. Needless to say, it was an incredibly boring to fight because of the running. All Frampton did all night long was land pot shots and move. Ignoring the success aspect with this kind of fighting style, Frampton is not going to win any kind of fan base fighting like that. Boxing fans want to see fighters that are willing to exchange, and not runners that are just looking to keep from getting hit the way that Frampton was.

Right now I don’t think Frampton is tough enough to even beat a fighter like Martinez at the European level. Just imagine what it’s going to be like when and if Frampton moves up to the world class level. They get much better than Martinez, believe me. I can’t see Frampton making it at that level. I mean, he’s got a muscular physique and if this was a bodybuilding competition, he’d probably beat most of the top fighters at the world level. But what I saw of him against Hirales was a fighter that looked muscular but fought like he was weak. Hirales looked like the stronger puncher, and the thing is he’s not a puncher. Hirales can somewhat punch, but he’s not a puncher. Once you get to the world level, you’ve got guys like Nonito Donaire, Abner Mares and Guillermo Rigondeaux. I can’t see Frampton hanging with those guys, and he won’t win any decisions with his hit and run style of fighting. They’ll give it to the more aggressive fighter 99 out of 100 times at the world level. Frampton will have no choice but to try and trade with these guys, and they’ll take his head off when that happens.

My advice is for Frampton to stay at the domestic level and carve out a nice career as the Commonwealth super bantamweight champion. He can be like one of those Italian Olympic heavyweights like Roberto Cammarelle, who opted not to take it to the next level.