CARL FRAMPTON’S meeting with Scott Quigg looks likely to happen early next year.
Frampton’s manager Barry McGuigan told The Irish News negotiations beltween his Cyclone Promotions team and Quigg’s handlers Matchroom have reopened with a view to staging the eagerly-awaited domestic rumble in the spring.
There are reports the fight will be held in Manchester on February 20 next year and McGuigan said: “We don’t know yet if it can be done, but if it’s going to happen, it’s going to happen next year.”
He added: “We’ve had negotiations with a couple of guys in America, we have the mandatory and we have talked extensively to Quigg.
“The Quigg fight looks like it might happen, but we’re not going to say it’s done until it’s done. We set out a set of circumstances that we wanted and we haven’t changed and we have been able to get round the table and negotiate it.
“I don’t do that – Jake and Blain do that – but I have told them what I want and they have gone off to try and look for it. So we may be able to do business, who knows?”
The stumbling block previously has been the Cyclone camp’s insistence that Frampton – the IBF champion – should be guaranteed a 60 per cent of the purse, while Quigg’s handler Eddie Hearn held out for a 60-per-cent-to-the-winner scenario. McGuigan wouldn’t be drawn on the nuts and bolts of the deal.
“We’ve already laid out what we want,” he said.
“Someone is going to have to be flexible and we think that can be achieved.”
One fight that will definitely happen is Conrad Cummings versus Alfredo Meli for the Celtic middleweight title on November 20. McGuigan predicts victory for his fighter Cummings and rates the Tyrone native very highly.
“For Conrad, this is a tough fight,” he said.
“Meli is a volume puncher, good chin, he’s very self-confident guy and he’s not overawed by this at all and he feels that he can win. He’s wrong but, still, it’s good to see that confidence because I know that it will be a great fight, however long it lasts.
“It could very well be a distance fight, but Conrad is getting better and better and better. He’s only had seven fights, whereas Meli has had 11, but Meli hasn’t sparred the level of opposition that Conrad’s been sparring. He sparred with Andy Lee and it was great to watch, two days he sparred with him and we were very confident coming out of that spar. He sparred Billy Joe Saunders and he was very, very good in that spar as well.
“We’re very happy with the progress that he’s making. He’s keen to fight for titles, he’s keen to be a big-time fighter and he didn’t think twice about this. It’s great that the two of them have the professionalism and intelligence to accept this fight and I think the benefit is going to be for the fans – I think it’s going to be a great fight, no matter how long it lasts. It’ll be non-stop action and I’m confident that Conrad will win this one and go on to win many more big fights.
“I would be very surprised Conrad Cummings does not fight for the world title. Ask me in a couple of fights when he’s going to win it.”
Meanwhile, Anthony Cacace won the Celtic title with a late stoppage win over Ronnie Clark in Scotland last Friday night.
“That was a watershed moment for him,” said McGuigan.
“He has always lacked a bit of confidence and we have nurtured him for nine months. We let him off the leash against Ronnie Clark. It was a stand-up-and-be-counted moment and he did that with flying colours.
“He is a serious puncher, seriously talented and it’s all about confidence. He’s on the verge of big things and we’re going to look at title fights for him from here on in.”
