McGuigan worried Martinez would be a no show again

By Jonny Stapleton

Barry McGuigan claims issues outside rather than inside the ring have left him wary about agreeing to put Carl Frampton in with European champion Kiko Martinexz in December.

The European Boxing Union claimed last week that the Belfast prospect and the Spaniard were in talks re a mouth watering December 17 Continental clash.

However, speaking to Mirror Sport  Frampton’s mentor claimed he has not held negotiations with one of only two  Bernard Dunne defeaters and seemed very sceptical about re scheduling a fight that was initially meant to take place on September 10.

The former world champion believes there is too  much turmoil surrounding camp Martinez for any concrete plans to be made and doesn’t want to put his fighter through another late withdrawal.

“We would be delighted to fight Kiko Martinez. We wanted to fight him on September 10. We were happy to fight him but he is so unpredictable. There are so many issues around his management and promoter it all seems a bit treacherous.  Why would we accept a fight with him for him to pull out again,” McGuigan explained.

“Martinez is a nice kid but there are a lot of issue surrounding him. We can’t be bothered with all the trail tribulations surrounding a fight with him.  Will he turn up and fight if we sign a contract? No one knows? Carl worked  so hard and was ready to challenge him the last time and was gutted when he pulled out.”

The Irish boxing legend re-iterated his belief that the Jackal would devour the three time European super bantamweight champion, who pulled out of the September clash due illness to his father.
However, he is adamant now his Belfast protégé is Commonwealth champion he has a wealth of options and despite desiring a Europe tilt doesn’t need one to progress.

“If  we can get a guarantee he wouldn’t pull out then we would like to fight him, but we have other options. Carl is his on way over to see Scott Quigg fight Jason Booth for the British title on Saturday. The winner of that is certainly an option. Like I said before and at the risk of sounding like a broken record we are willing to fight these guys and want to get into these fights. We are ready to be stand up and be counted.”