Frampton could face Spaniard on Matchroom show
6 April 2011 – Jonny Stapleton
Carl Frampton will be on course to challenge for the British, Commonwealth and European titles if he defeats Joaquin Cespedes and claims the vacant EU super-bantamweight title, according to Barry McGuigan. The EBU have cleared the way for ‘The Jackal’ to battle the Spaniard for the crown once owned by Paulie Hyland and negotiations are underway to get the fight made for the summer.
If an agreement between camps cannot be made, the bout will go to purse bids, which have been pushed back from their initial April 7 date, with Matchroom Promotions doing the bidding on behalf of Frampton. McGuigan believes if the undefeated 24 year old hot prospect claims the EU crown he will be perfectly poised to challenge for either domestic or European honours depending on which opportunity presents itself first.
The former world champion has plotted his protgs career magnificently thus far with every fight helping to signal title intent. Patience is a virtue it seems Team Frampton wont need, as the Clones Cyclone believes his charge wont have to wait too long for a major title fight. McGuigan is confident the Tigers Bay native is ready to devour anyone current domestic fighters bar Rendall Munroe and stressed his fighter will one day become world champion.
Carl will challenge for the EU title. We are in negotiations about getting the fight made, purse bids have been pushed back and we are keen to get the fight on. What claiming the EU belt does is gives us more options. We are strategically positioning ourselves in line for the British, Commonwealth and now European titles. If we cannot for some reason get a domestic shot we will now be in line for the European title, McGuigan told Mirror Sport.
The kid Carl will fight [Joaquin Cespedes] is unbeaten and at a similar stage to his career as Carl, but I am confident Carl will beat him. In fact, meaning no disrespect to the fighters at super-bantamweight we are confident Carl can beat anyone on the scene at the moment. We dont fear anyone, but we probably wouldnt be ready for Rendell Munroe just yet. Munroe is world class and stylistically could test Carl. I will manage Carl properly; we want the best for him and I will make the right decision strategically. Youve seen what can happen when wrong decisions are made. I think putting Willie Casey in with Rigondeaux is an example of that. I would have never put Willie in against the Cuban, McGuigan added, before intimating that the EU title fight is not likely to take place in Belfast.
It will most likely be a Matchroom show, but we are not sure of the venue as of yet. We are looking forward to returning to Belfast, but its not likely this show will be there at this stage. It isnt a British, Commonwealth or European title fight so it wont be a Belfast main event.
The Monaghan native also took time to hit back at Kiko Martinezs claims that the Celtic champ was running scared of him.
That is total nonsense. We agreed to fight Kiko Martinez on March 4 and we are confident we would have boxed the ears of him. We were genuinely happy to take that fight, but they wanted to tie Carl down to ridiculous options. Carl is too good for that. It would have been career madness for a future world champion.
