By Shaun Brown
Carl Frampton (26-1, 15 KOs) says his upcoming bout with Josh Warrington (27-0, 6 KOs) will be the fight that his clash with Scott Quigg wasn’t.
Frampton challenges Warrington on December 22 at the Manchester Arena live on BT Sports Box Office, for the Yorkshireman’s IBF Featherweight title which we won against Lee Selby back in May.
Over two and a half years ago Frampton unified the Super Bantamweight division, at the same venue, taking Quigg’s WBA title in a lacklustre affair that had promised so much beforehand.
“Warrington will come to have a scrap and that’s what the fans want. Quigg didn’t want to know for the first half of our fight in 2016,” said Frampton in his latest column for Belfast newspaper Sunday Life.
Warrington against Frampton was officially announced last week by their promoter Frank Warren and could well be BT’s third pay-per-view in four months after entering the market on Saturday with their broadcast of the Gennady Golovkin-Canelo Alvarez middleweight showdown. The other, they hope, will be Deontay Wilder’s eighth defence of his WBC Heavyweight title against Tyson Fury – a fight that is still without official confirmation.
Frampton and Warrington will be aiming to give their passionate and loyal support an early Christmas present and ‘The Jackal’ says he has the same sense of excitement and desire as he did when he first challenged for world honours against Kiko Martinez in September 2014.
“I know what this means to me, my team, my family and friends – and what it can lead to.
“Beat Warrington and the door will be open to unification fights with Oscar Valdez, Garry Russell Jnr and Leo Santa Cruz the big targets and we could be back at Windsor Park in the summer.”
The 31-year-old, trained by Jamie Moore, enjoyed a rapturous reception when he fought at Windsor Park last month outclassing Australia’s Luke Jackson with a ninth-round stoppage. Josh Warrington was ringside that night to witness Frampton’s 26th professional win. And while the unbeaten champion, who will be making the first defence of his world title in December, is flying high after beating Lee Selby at Elland Road Frampton reiterated his belief that he is a level above 27-year-old.
“I have seen that he is saying he is as confident of beating me as he was of beating Selby. It’s good that he feels that confidence and he loves the feeling of being world champion because it means he will give everything to hold on to his title and that means it will be a great fight for the fans.
“But there are levels in boxing and in every department, I believe I am a level above Warrington and I have felt that for a long time.”
Twitter @sbrown2pt0
