Shane McGuigan – “They both learned in the first fight”
Carl Frampton [23(14)-0] will show further ‘phenomenal’ progress in Las Vegas on January 28th, suggests coach Shane McGuigan.
The young coach has both watched and helped his friend and charge grow into a two-weight World champion and pound-for-pound ranked fighter over the past few years.
The former Ulster Senior champion and now respected coach has been more than impressed with the progress, and expects the WBA featherweight world champion to show further improvements when he rematches with Leo Santa Cruz early next year in Sin City.
Battersea-based McGuigan, who also trains David Haye, George Groves, Josh Taylor, and Coalisland’s Conrad Cummings, is confident Frampton can learn from his first meeting with the three-weight World champion and improve on his career-best performance..
“I think this fight we’re going to win a lot more convincingly, cement the win and then move on. I’m extremely excited about it,” the young coach said.
“To see how far Carl has come is phenomenal. I hope people will buy a ticket and come out to support. He needs that support and I hope to see you all out there.”
28 year old McGuigan, who predicted Frampton would defeat Scott Quigg in rather convincing, but not explosive, fashion believes ‘The Jackal’ and Santa Cruz’s styles mesh so well that the second installment is certain to be as exciting at the first.
“These are two really good fighters. This would be a great fight 10 times out of 10. Leo had a lot of distractions in training camp with his father’s health and I think he will be a better fight the second time.”
“That was Carl Frampton’s first time fighting at 126 pounds, so he had a lot of new experiences leading up to the last fight. They both learned in the first fight and I think they will both be able to give a little bit more the second time. The fans will be the ones to enjoy the action.”
“I don’t know who was lucky enough to see the first fight between these two, but it was really a great one. Carl got dragged into Leo’s fight at times, but with that came excitement.”
