LEE SELBY threw down the gauntlet to Carl Frampton after Belfast’s ‘Jackal’ won the WBA featherweight title in Brooklyn, New York on Saturday night.
Sitting ringside, IBF champion Selby said he’d been impressed with Frampton’s superb performance against Leo Santa Cruz but added that he’d seen nothing from ‘the Jackal’ to suggest he was unbeatable: “It would be a huge fight,” said ‘Lighting’ Selby.
“I’d love to fight him It should be an easy fight to make – we’re both with Al Haymon, my manager (Chris Sanagar) and his manager (Barry McGuigan) get along together – they’ve put on shows in Cardiff – so there should be no problem making the fight.”
Selby said Frampton tactics on Saturday night had surprised him – Frampton went toe-to-toe with Santa Cruz at the Barclays Center: “I thought it was brilliant,” he said.
“It was a great fight, a tough fight and the tactics he used surprised me. I didn’t think he’d stand and trade, I thought he’d box on the back foot and outclass Santa Cruz but instead he beat him at his own game.”
After Frampton won a majority decision (one of the judges ruled the fight a draw) there was a lot of talk about a rematch, but Selby wants to be the next man in the ring with ‘the Jackal’: “It was a fight of the year contender,” he said.
Watch footage from the post-fight press conference in New York:
“But I’d like to think our styles would gel well too. Do I think I would win? Oh yeah, most definitely. Nothing I saw tonight makes me think I couldn’t beat him.”
There was no rematch clause in the contract for Frampton-Santa Cruz but Frampton says he’d be happy to meet ‘El Terramota” again - maybe on home soil: “I would love to bring him over to Belfast,” he said.
“We could fill out a stadium but we’d have to do it at the right time of year. Lee Selby is here, a great fighter and someone I respect and he is one of the best UK fighters - I’ve always said that. That’s a fight that interests me and there’s Gary Russell junior, all these guys. I just want to be involved in big fights, memorable fights against top class fighters.
“Someone said to me ‘real fighters fight’ and that’s what I want to do.”
