by David P. Greisman
Carl Frampton turned down an offer earlier this year to face the other 122-pound fighter of note in the United Kingdom, Scott Quigg. But as has often prevented major fights from happening, one or both sides feel the terms need to be right.
“The situation with Quigg is he outpriced himself on the fight,” Frampton stated while promoting his July 18 bout against Alejandro Gonzalez. “He thinks he’s worth more than what he is. I was told by my mother growing up never to sell myself short. I’m not going to sell myself short to Scott Quigg or [Quigg’s promoter] Eddie Hearn.”
Frampton’s manager, Barry McGuigan, noted that Quigg is the World Boxing Association’s “regular” titleholder while Guillermo Rigondeaux is the WBA “super” titleholder. Rigondeaux is also the division’s lineal champion. Frampton holds the belt bestowed by the International Boxing Federation.
“Scott Quigg doesn’t merit 50 percent of the purse,” McGuigan said. “Carl has won all his title fights, he’s taken risks, he’s banged out arenas, he’s been a headline act, all the things that quigg has not done. [Note: Quigg has been the main event on cards befpre]. Quigg has got the WBA regular title. The real WBA champion is Guillermo Rigondeaux.
“So with that in mind, we don’t want the WBA regular title. We’re interested in the fight, but not in that title,” he said. “We are of course interested in Guillermo Rigondeaux’s super WBA title. But the fact is if we’re going to Manchester, we’re putting Carl’s credibility on the line and we’re going into his home turf. He is not getting 50 percent of the purse, because this is in fact a voluntary defense for Carl. … We said we’d start at 70-30 [purse split], but the least we would take is 60-40, and they wouldn’t play ball.”
Quigg recently claimed that the offer Frampton turned down was indeed 60-40, whereas McGuigan said earlier this year that the offer was that the winner would get 60 percent of the purse.
Either way, both boxer will be fighting on the same day, though not against each other. Quigg has a bout in Manchester against Kiko Martinez, the former 122-pound titleholder who twice lost to Frampton, with their rematch being the fight that got Frampton his belt.
Frampton-Gonzalez will be in the United States in the main event of a late afternoon/early evening “Premier Boxing Champions” card being shown from El Paso, Texas.
Pick up a copy of David’s book, “Fighting Words: The Heart and Heartbreak of Boxing,” at http://bit.ly/fightingwordsamazon or internationally at http://bit.ly/fightingwordsworldwide . Send questions/comments via email at fightingwords1@gmail.com