ONE of the leading boxing journalists in north America is expecting a war at the Manchester Arena on Saturday night - and believes Scott Quigg will be the man leaving the ring with his unbeaten record intact.
Douglass Fischer, editor of The Ring website and a columnist in the famous magazine, is a big fan of both Quigg and Carl Frampton. But since watching the Bury man at close quarters during a series of 2012 sparring sessions at Freddie Roach’s Wildcard Gym in Los Angeles, Fischer has kept a keen eye on Quigg’s progress to the top of the super-bantamweight rankings.
“Before he fought Rendall Munroe, Scott Quigg sparred with a young man named Julian Ramirez, the nephew of [former WBC world super-featherweight champion] Genaro Hernandez,” recalls Fischer.
“Oscar De La Hoya’s brother Joel called me and said ‘hey, Julian’s sparring with this kid Scott Quigg who’s a contender, I want you to come check my kid out’. He only had about three fights at the time, but Ramirez is kind of a rough kid. He wasn’t a great amateur or anything, but he’s a guy who grew up in the gyms and he spars really tough, he’s got a chip on his shoulder. And if you put him in there with somebody who’s 20-0, or whatever Quigg was at the time, he wants to show out.
"But Quigg handled it, he didn’t get angry, he didn’t take it personally. I saw some real ring generalship in those sparring sessions that I hadn’t seen in his fights so, since then, I have believed there’s more to Quigg than meets the eye.”
Yet for all his qualities, Ramirez - now 16-0 - is no Carl Frampton. Fischer first came across the Tigers Bay fighter when his Dougie’s Mailbag column was inundated with requests to check out the rising star from Ireland four years ago.
‘The Jackal’ didn’t disappoint: “When looking at Quigg’s early fights as opposed to Frampton’s, Frampton looked more polished and, perhaps, the better athlete," he says.
“He’s faster, more fluid and seemed to have a better command of the ring and Quigg seemed kinda rugged - decent technique but not elite level technique. He was a bit rough around the edges, whereas Frampton was pinpoint accurate, a joy to watch. He passed the eye test.”
Andy Watters and Neil Loughran talk to Holy Trinity coach Michael Hawkins about Saturday's fight:
Fischer admits Saturday’s fight is “not one for the casual boxing fan in the US”, but pointed to the first meeting between Mexican greats Marco Antonio Barrera and Erik Morales 16-years-ago as an example of how, if styles click, certain match-ups can catch fire. Steve Kim from the Undisputed Champion Network has already dubbed Frampton-Quigg “the UK equivalent of Barrera-Morales”, and Fischer agrees with that assessment.
“Traditionally, 122lb is not a weight class that commands much attention here,” he adds.
“But when Barrera and Morales fought for the first time in 2000, it was at 122lb - the same weight class. That was a fight that was only talked about in Spanish language sports media, it was the Mexican boxing fans and the hardcore boxing fans who couldn’t wait to see it.
“The first fight took place at the Mandalay Bay and the arena was cut in half because there wasn’t enough demand. But the rematch was pay-per-view, it was at the MGM Grand in front of a packed arena. They had a brilliant trilogy so, who knows, Frampton-Quigg could be the same. I really think it’s going to deliver.”
Opinion on who will win on Saturday night is split right down the middle, but Fischer is sticking by his guns and tipping Quigg to edge an engrossing encounter: “It’s one of those fights where, if you talk to 10 boxing writers, five like Quigg, five like Frampton. And if you ask them to explain themselves, they’ll say ‘well I wouldn’t be surprised if the other guy wins’," he says.
“It’s a big fight with no clear favourite - how often does that happen? Not very. Look at ‘Canelo’ Alvarez versus Amir Khan. It’s a huge fight, yet 95 out of 100 people would pick Canelo and the other five, their surname is Khan. This is a pick’em fight and those are the fights fans want to see.
“But I’m a Quigg believer,” continues Fischer, “I think Quigg will have trouble with Frampton early, over the first four rounds, and, in the middle rounds, he will get used to the style and start to time him.
“I really think the body attack is going to be key to Quigg’s victory and I think he can take over down the stretch. I can see Quigg winning a very close decision, maybe even a controversial decision in the eyes of team Frampton.”
Douglass Fischer is editor of ringtv.com. Email his Dougie’s Mailbag column at dougie@boxingmailbag.com and follow him on Twitter at @dougiefischer.
BARRY McGUIGAN has never been shy about talking up Carl Frampton - and he wasted no time in letting Kieran Mulvaney know that the Jackal was a man with the world at his fists.
“I met Barry at a fight in Las Vegas, probably a Mayweather or Pacquiao fight, a few years back and pretty much the first thing he said to me was ‘you’ve gotta look out for my boy Carl Frampton’,” recalls the face and voice of HBO’s digital platform.
Even before joining HBO, Mulvaney had been keeping a close eye on Frampton, regularly referencing the Tigers Bay fighter in his popular ESPN boxing podcast. And after watching Frampton demolish Kiko Martinez to win the European super-bantamweight title in 2013, Mulvaney got straight onto McGuigan.
“I messaged Barry after the first Martinez fight him and said ‘damn, you’ve got a very nice looking fighter there’," he says.
“I guess that’s the amateur background, great skills and he can crack a bit too. He’s a very pleasing fighter to watch.”
Mulvaney explained that, through his association with McGuigan, Frampton was a “known quantity” among fight fans in the US. Born and raised in the seaside town of Western Super Mare in England, Mulvaney has always kept a close eye on the scene on this side of the world.
And the fact that Saturday’s domestic dust-up between Frampton and Scott Quigg is being broadcast on Showtime demonstrates there is interest in the match-up: “Your man on the street wouldn’t know about it but, among boxing fans here, yeah," Mulvaney says.
“The quality of boxing in the British Isles and Ireland is so good at the minute and we’re all noticing that.”
Frampton took a while to warm up in his north American debut last June, recovering from two flash knockdowns in the first round against unheralded Mexican Alejandro Gonzalez jnr to score a unanimous points victory.
And the nature of that win may well have tipped the balance in Quigg’s favour among US boxing writers, suggests Mulvaney: “I get the sense that, over here, Quigg is a little bit favourite.
“I don’t know how much that has to do with Carl being dropped last time out, but there’s a sense that Quigg is that bit more rugged and that he might be that bit more durable.”
Kieran Mulvaney co-hosts the HBO Boxing podcast with Eric Raskin, which is available on iTunes and at soundcloud.com/hboboxing. He is also a regular contributor to the Inside HBO Boxing blog. Follow him on Twitter @kieranmulvaney.
