Jamie Moore promises levels will show on Saturday – but issues work-rate warning

Carl Frampton has to make sure that hard work doesn’t beat talent this coming weekend warns trainer Jamie Moore.

‘The Jackal’ challenges Josh Warrington for his IBF featherweight world title in Manchester on Saturday night and goes into the fight as favourite.

Most industry insiders point out that the three-time world champion is the more naturally gifted of the two and a superior talent.

However, there is one area that Moore believes Warrington could trump his charge on and that’s work-rate.

Moore is confident his fighter will produce the better work during the BT Sport Box Office bout, but knows the champion’s workhorse approach will have to be matched if Frampton is to regain world champion status.

Some have suggested previously that Frampton slows in the second half of fights – although there is context here with Frampton claiming to be weight-drained at super bantam and, at different times, over and under-trained at featherweight.

Currently, the Tiger’s Bay 31-year-old claims to be in the best shape of his career and points to hi-tech testing results from the Manchester Institute of Health and Performance as proof.

He will have to show this says Moore who told the Yorkshire Post that “Carl’s got a fantastic skill-set but the one thing we can’t get caught out on is work-rate.”

“Josh is a great workhorse and Carl absolutely needs to match him on that front. I pushed the intensity of his training earlier than I normally would because I want him to be every bit as fit.”

Expecting a competitive fight, Moore is determined that his charge will not lose out due to quantity trumping quality.

The Salford trainer noted how “every round will be close and the fight’s going to go at a high pace, which is what we’ve prepared for.”

“Personally, I think Carl will be head and shoulders above Josh technically and I’m very confident that the better work will come from him.”

The former Irish, British and European champion also admits when he first started to train ‘The Jackal’, Warrington was never a fight he thought he would have to prepare for.

Most, indeed, laughed at the prospect of such a fight when common promoter Frank Warren suggested it over a year ago but the English fighter has since gone on to dethrone Lee Selby and establish himself as a name of global boxing significance.

That said, Moore believes, levels will tell on Saturday night.

The coach outlined how “[Warrington] has proven he’s in that class now. I didn’t expect him to do what he did to Selby. It might be that he got Selby at the right time but that’s the way boxing works. You’ve still got to go in there and fight like Josh did.”

“You’d call him a world-class fighter now but Carl, to me, is an elite fighter.”

“Is this a fight we’d have thought about visiting before the win over Selby? No. But Josh has absolutely earned it. The Selby win put him on the radar.”