by David P. Greisman

Barry McGuigan may be a bit biased in thinking highly of his fighter and his fighter’s trainer, but he has a point — Carl Frampton and Barry’s son Shane will deserve consideration when 2016 comes to a close for being fighter of the year and trainer of the year.

Frampton has now scored two big wins so far this year: a decision over Scott Quigg, who was one of the top fighters at 122 pounds, and a decision over Leo Santa Cruz, who was one of the top fighters at 126.

There will be other big fights this year. The November bout between light heavyweight titleholder Sergey Kovalev and former super middleweight champion Andre Ward will pit two of the best boxers, pound-for-pound, against each other.

But McGuigan also was thinking about history beyond just this year. Frampton is the first boxer from Northern Ireland to win world titles in two weight classes.

“I genuinely believe this kid will go on to be the greatest Irish fighter there’s ever been,” McGuigan said at the post-fight press conference.

The year is still early. But Frampton’s off to a great start. Frampton’s quickly added more to a career that began in 2009, led to a world title win at junior featherweight in 2014, the unification fight with Quigg this year and now a belt at featherweight.

He’s 29. He still has years left to add more for historical consideration.

“I don’t think it’s sunk in,” Frampton said. “When I get home, I think it’ll hit me a bit more. But it’s a huge achievement.”

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