By Scott Gilfoid: Matchroom Sport promoter Eddie Hearn thinks that IBF super bantamweight champion Carl Frampton (21-0, 14 KOs) will be facing his IBF mandatory challenger Shingo Wake (19-4-2, 11 KOs) for his next fight rather than taking on his fighter WBA “regular” super bantamweight champion Scott Quigg (31-0-2, 23 KOs) in a pay-per-view bout.
Hearn said he was unable to get Frampton and his management to move 2 percent in the negotiations to make the fight doable for them. Hearn wanted Frampton and his management to move just £100,000 – £150,000, but they wouldn’t do it.
“I was hoping they would be sensible enough and I needed them to move just a couple of per cent – we are talking £100,000, £150,000 in the big pot of things, and they won’t do it,” Hearn said to belfastlive.
I think Hearn needs to realize that Frampton and his management see themselves as the A-side in the negotiation. If they want the fight bad enough, they’ll probably need to give in to whatever Frampton and his manager Barry McGuigan want. If not, then they’re going to need to move on and continue fighting guys like Kiko Martinez, Hidenori Otake, Stephane Jamoye, and Tshifhiwa Munyai.
Quigg has a little bit of momentum with his recent win over Kiko, but I don’t suspect Quigg to continue to face the better known opposition. Hearn didn’t make a deal for a fight between Quigg and Nonito Donaire.
A win over Donaire would have likely put Quigg on even terms with Frampton in the negotiations. Instead, I see Quigg staying in the one down position and likely continuing to be matched up against mostly obscure opposition.
“They will probably fight Shingo Wake in a mandatory defence which means nothing, and Frampton might lose a bit more value,” Hearn said. “Timing is so important for a pay-per-view fight. There are only certain windows.”
Frampton is coming off of a disappointing performance last July in beating Alejandro Gonzalez Jr. by a 12 round unanimous decision in a fight televised on Premier Boxing Champions in El Paso, Texas. Frampton was knocked own twice in the 1st round, and stunned by a big right hand shot from Gonzalez Jr. in the 9th round. Frampton got the win, but his stock plummeted with that fight.
Frampton and Quigg haven’t shown much interest to get inside the ring with the fighter recognized by boxing fans to be the best fighter at 122 in WBA/WBO super bantamweight champion Guillermo Rigondeaux.
It looks to some like they’re waiting the 34-year-old Rigondeaux out until he’s old enough to be beaten. Rigondeaux will be turning 35 this month on September 30th, so you’ve got to figure that it won’t be too much longer before he’s old enough for Quigg or Frampton to finally agree to fight him.
I think Frampton and Quigg need to build up their fight by facing better opposition. Neither of these guys are taking chances by facing the dangerous guys like Donaire and Rigondeaux. If they would at least put it on the line by facing one or both of them, they could potentially make their fight much bigger in the future.
Of course, Frampton and Quigg could very well lose to Donaire and Rigondeaux, but at least they would be letting the boxing fans know where they stand in the pecking order at 122. We can’t really know right now given the soft opposition Quigg and Frampton have been taking.
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