Scott Quigg vs. Kiko Martinez Set, 7/18 In Manchester
May 12, 2015 • 9:18 AM ET
By Terence Dooley
Scott Quigg, 30-0-2 (22), defends his WBA World Super bantamweight title against former IBF title-holder Kiko “La Sensación” Martinez, 32-5 (24), at the Manchester Arena on July 18. The Bury-based boxer fights for the first time in 2015, he has been out of action since decisioning Hidenori Otake in November after undergoing an operation to repair damaged tendons in his right hand.
Martinez, 29, will want to catapult himself back into big fight contention following last September’s decision loss to Carl Frampton, which left Martinez without a world title and pondering a permanent move to bantamweight. He has fought once since that loss, a second-round TKO over George Gachechiladze in Spain in December.
It is Quigg's sixth defence of the belt; he picked up the interim title by defeating domestic rival Rendall Munroe by sixth-round TKO in November 2012 before being award the WBA's World title due to Guillermo Rigondeaux's Super champion status. He has been calling for a showdown with Frampton and will hope to make a statement against Martinez in order to bring Frampton and Barry McGuigan, his mentor and manager, to the negotiating table again.
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