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Quigg eyes Warrington v Frampton winner – denies he priced himself out of Windsor fight


Scott Quigg will, unsurprisingly, be a very interested observer on Saturday night when Carl Frampton takes on Luke Jackson at Windsor Park in Belfast.

Frampton is expected to handily dispose of the Australian to set up a December world title fight in Manchester with IBF featherweight champion Josh Warrington [27(6)-0].

The Manchester Arena-hosted fight will be a neutral ground affair for Frampton [25(14)-1(0)] and the Leeds champion, and one of the city’s fighting sons is eyeing up the winner.

Quigg, who lost in a super bantamweight unification versus Frampton in 2016 and has been keen for a rematch ever since, wants to return to world title level in the near future.

The Bury boxer lost in a WBO title challenge earlier this year – missing weight by a large margin before being defeated by champion Óscar Valdez in California.

Quigg [34(25)-2(0)-2] broke Valdez’s jaw in the process – facilitating the creation of an interim title which Frampton won in April versus Nonito Donaire and will put on the line versus Jackson.

The 29-year-old, who is set to return to the ring in October, believes that a Frampton-Warrington clash would not definitively determine the top domestic featherweight as he believes he should still has a say in the matter.

Quigg told the Belfast Telegraph that “I think it would be great to see the three of us in the mix fighting each other to see who the No.1 featherweight in the UK is.”

“I believe I’m the best and if Frampton faces Warrington then the winner would have to fight me to see who the No.1 is.”

The choice of Tasmanian Jackson [16(7)-0] as Frampton’s Windsor opponent came in for widespread criticism.

While Frampton opined that the Aussie will provide a tougher test than Quigg, many felt that the Matchroom fighter offered the potential for a much bigger fight.

This was all, however, seemingly moot – with Frampton’s promoter Frank Warren revealing that Quigg had priced himself out of the fight.

The fighter himself sees things differently, and explained how “I told the person acting on my behalf that I wanted half a million quid for the fight even though I knew they would probably turn it down.”

“But the ball was in their court and I expected an offer to come back but it didn’t.”

“They didn’t want the fight, they had already signed up Jackson for the fight at Windsor.

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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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