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Carl Frampton: Me v Quigg is NOT Ireland v England

Carl Frampton has moved to dismiss talk that his February 27th showdown with Scott Quigg will be reduced to solely an Ireland v England affair.

The hugely popular Frampton, who draws support from all communities this island, feels that Matchroom and Sky have perhaps tried to push a potentially divisive angle ahead of the fight.

While Luke Wilton, Marco McCullough, Ryan Burnett, and Conrad Cummings all also appear on the card, the IBF super bantamweight champion does not want the event to descend into a flag-waving, nationalistic occassion.

Speaking to IFL TV, the Belfast man believes that the presence of other Irish boxers on the card β€œwon’t make any difference to me at all.”

Indeed Frampton feels that talk of Ireland v England is a calculated move by Eddie Hearn and Matchroom to attempt to perhaps split Frampton’s fan base outside the island of Ireland and drum up support in Britain for Bury’s Quigg.

However Frampton, who has a large following in Britain that was bolstered further by his two fights on terrestrial television last year, sees through this tactic and explained that β€œI know what they’re trying to do, they’re trying to paint this out to be Ireland versus England, but it’s not Ireland versus England.”

β€œI see what Eddie and Matchroom’s propaganda are trying to do here.”

The Tiger’s Bay star referenced his cross-community, cross-border, cross-Irish sea appeal, explaining that β€œI have a lot of English fans, Irish fans, Scottish fans, who’ll be coming to support me too.”

With the bout just three weeks away, it won’t be long until we have visual and aural evidence of the support that Frampton brings when the ‘Jackal Army’ take over the Manchester Arena.’

Watch Carl Frampton’s full interview with Sonny Donnelly of IFL TV below:

Joe O'Neill

Reporting on Irish boxing the past five years. Work has appeared on irish-boxing.com, Boxing News, the42.ie, and local and national media. Provide live ringside updates, occasional interviews, and special features on the future of Irish boxing. email: joneill6@tcd.ie

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