McGuigan expects Carl Frampton to face Quigg and possibly Santa Cruz in 2015

By Boxing News - 12/29/2014 - Comments

frampton40By Scott Gilfoid: Barry McGuigan, the adviser for IBF super bantamweight champion Carl Frampton (19-0, 13 KOs), sees big things for him in 2015. Frampton has a title defense against #1 IBF Chris Avalos (25-2, 19 KOs) on February 28th at the Odyssey Arena, in Belfast, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom.

McGuigan sees Frampton winning that fight, and then moving on to face WBA belt holder Scott Quigg, and then possibly WBC champion Leo Santa Cruz. What’s interesting is that McGuigan isn’t saying a word about wanting to match Frampton against WBA/WBO super bantamweight champion Guillermo Rigondeaux, even though he’s considered to be far the best fighter in the division.

It doesn’t make a lot of sense that McGuigan is pushing for Frampton to fight the belt holders in the division rather than the guy that many boxing fans recognize as by far the best fighter at 122 in Rigondeaux. That’s perhaps the easiest fight that can be put together, because Rigondeaux is very interested in facing Frampton or any of the other champions if he could get them in the ring.

“I believe that 2015 will be a sensational year for Carl Frampton, and I believe that he will beat Avalos and he will beat him in exciting style, and then we will go on to fight Quigg possibly or Leo Santa Cruz. It’s going to be a magnificent year for him,” McGuigan told RTE.ie.

Frampton may or may not get a fight against Quigg and Santa Cruz in 2015, but those fights won’t prove much because the main guy in the division is Rigondeaux. I personally don’t see Frampton getting past Santa Cruz, because that guy can really fight. Quigg is beatable, as we saw in his fight against Yoandris Salinas.

I expect Avalos to give Frampton a lot of problems in their fight on February 28th. Avalos can really bring it, and he’s going to force Frampton to box him, because if he stands and trades, he’s going to take too much punishment.

I think Frampton will look bad if he runs from Avalos, because this is a guy who was handled by Jhonatan Romero and Christopher Martin. If Frampton can’t stand his ground to beat Avalos in the pocket then it’s going to spell disaster for Frampton when/if he ever faces the true talent in the super bantamweight division in Rigondeaux.

Frampton is coming off of a 12 round decision over Kiko Martinez last September. The fight was really competitive and until Martinez ran out of gas in the last part of the fight.

I think McGuigan is making a mistake by looking past Avalos. This is a guy that could very well beat Frampton if he stands and trades with him instead of running around the ring like he did in his fights against Martinez and Raul Hirales. I mean, it’s going to be awfully tough for Avalos to win a decision against Frampton because of the fight taking place in Frampton’s home country, but I believe it’s definitely possible if he can get him to engage instead of moving constantly.



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