By Terence Dooley
Eddie Hearn recently offered Belfast’s Carl Frampton, 20-0 (14), a £1.5 million purse for a showdown with Bury’s Scott Quigg, 30-0-2 (22), at the Manchester Arena. However, Barry McGuigan, Frampton’s mentor and friend, insists that they want a 60-40 split in their favour if the fight is made. The former world featherweight champion maintains that his fighter is the draw, so the purse should reflect this.
“Carl was willing to travel to England to put his title on the line, and when the champion does that he normally gets the majority of the purse, that's just the way it is,” stated McGuigan when speaking to The Sun (Irish edition).
“Carl has drawn crowds of 16,000 in Belfast. I don't want to be rude to Scott Quigg, but he's never headlined a show. We wanted a minimum of 60-40, not the winner takes 60-40 because that's unfair on the fighters. We are not prepared to do anything else because I have other kids to look after.”
He added: It's boring now but we have never been the sort of people who will lay down and let people trample all over us and we are not about to do it now. I would not be doing my job right if I gave in to these bullyboys tactics and that is it.”
Frampton holds the IBF belt, Quigg is the WBA’s World titlist, both men have insisted that they want the fight, but negotiations between McGuigan and Hearn have hit an impasse over monetary terms and fight conditions. If they don’t bridge the gap, British fans could miss out on a domestic showdown that has garnered plenty of discussion and would partially unify the Super bantamweight division.
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