McGuigan: Frampton focused and undeterred

by Jonny Stapleton

Barry McGuigan claims the turmoil surrounding Carl Frampton’s September 10 opponent will have no negative effect on ‘The Jackal’s’ performance this weekend

Frampton finally confirmed an adversary and what belt he will challenge for in the Odyssey Arena on Saturday just yesterday, as Australian Mark Quon and the Commonwealth belt replace Kiko Martinez and the European title as Frampton’s opponent and potential prize.

However, rather than letting a turbulent week, which included rumoured fights with Willie Casey and Rendall Munroe collapsing, get him down McGuigan claims his protégé is professional enough to stay focused.

Indeed the Irish boxing legend and former world champion assures the Belfast Boy will be nothing other than magnificent on the under card to Paul McCloskey’s WBA world title eliminator.

“Carl is a professional. The change and the uncertainty over the last week won’t effect him. We are now fighting for the Commonwealth title which is fantastic,” McGugian told Mirror Sport yesterday.

“I have no doubt Carl will look magnificent on the night. He has never trained as hard. He has over 140 rounds of sparring done and has looked amazing in the gym. Pity it wasn’t Kiko Martinez, because people predicted were saying he would ‘beat the crap’ out of Carl, but that wouldn’t have been the case. Carl had the European title in his grasp and was ready to beat Martinez.”

The Commonwealth title might not be as prestigious as the European strap, but it is still a massive belt that can lead to bigger and better things.

McGuigan, who believes Frampton and Martinez will meet again sometime in the future, stressed the Commonwealth crown will open doors and pave the way for massive Belfast fight nights.

The Clones Cyclone also took the positives from a stressful ten days, stressing at least the last week enabled them to display the faith Team Frampton have in the hot prospects ability.

“This is a big step up. Carl first has to win the belt. When he does it gives us real currency to get big fights in Belfast and tempt big named fighters to come to Belfast in the future. Win this and Carl can get in with the big boys. We have showed already we how confident we are in his ability. We went a level past Scott Quigg and Jason Booth, who fight for the British title soon, and wanted to fight Munroe. People should understand we are willing and ready to fight these guys and confident Carl will beat them.