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Selby and Santa Cruz options if Carl Frampton comes through Gutierrez test says Barry McGuigan

Carl Frampton could complete his trilogy with Leo Santa Cruz in the autumn
Carl Frampton could complete his trilogy with Leo Santa Cruz in the autumn Carl Frampton could complete his trilogy with Leo Santa Cruz in the autumn

WORLD title rumbles with either Lee Selby or Leo Santa Cruz are options for Carl Frampton if he comes through his Belfast return against Andres Gutierrez unscathed.

Anything less than a convincing Frampton win would be a huge shock at the Odyssey Arena on July 19, but Frampton’s manager Barry McGuigan has warned that ‘the Jackal’ will need to be operating at his best to beat the Mexican.

Mexican fighters are notoriously hard to deal with and Gutierrez has come straight off the production line of warriors with fast hands and fighting hearts. A front foot puncher, he takes a few but gives more back and will come to win in Belfast.

The only defeat of Frampton’s career up to now came against his fellow countryman Santa Cruz in January, while another Mexican, the now departed Alejandro Gonzalez jnr, remains the only man to drop the Tigers Bay fighter – he had him down twice in the first round back in July 2015.

Frampton got up to win convincingly in El Paso that night and has gone on to become a two-weight world champion. McGuigan says he will be again after he deals with Gutierrez.

“You should never look too far ahead,” he said.

“But for me, as a manager, I have to be thinking about what is the next step.

“Santa Cruz has got Abner Mares on the 8th of September. If he wins that and Selby gets his fight with Jonathan Barros out of the way then we have two options.

“It’s always good to have two options because if one starts messing around then you have another avenue to go down. That’s where we are at the minute.”

Guadalajara-based Gutierrez turned pro six months shy of his 16th birthday. He is seven years’ Frampton’s junior but he has 37 fights to the Jackal’s 24.

“You can never take a Mexican fighter for granted, especially a 23-year-old one who is very determined,” said McGuigan.

“He has had a lot of fights – 37 professional fights and 35 wins – 25 knockouts. He had one draw and the defeat he has on his record was against a two-weight world champion called Cristian Mijares and I thought he won that fight. Mijares was on our radar at one stage in the past but it never came about – lots of guys are on our radar but nothing happens.

“In many peoples ‘ eyes he hasn’t lost at all so he’s a tough cookie, he’s strong and he can take a good shot. He walks forward and he’s always involved in exciting fights – I’m expecting a top class affair for Carl and Carl will have to be really switched on to win this fight and look good.

“Carl is looking good in the gym, he’s getting his sharpness back and he’s sparring well and working hard.”

Frampton’s July 29 Odyssey bill is his first fight on home soil since he beat Chris Avalos back in February 2015. Since then he has travelled to the USA three times and also to Manchester where he beat Scott Quigg to unify his super-bantamweight world titles.

‘The Jackal’ had to take stock after his loss to Santa Cruz.

“Defeat is hard to deal with,” McGuigan explained.

“There are many different ways of dealing with it and each individual has their own way of coping with it and working out ‘where do I go from here?’

“From my perspective – having been there, seen it, done it – the best thing to do is not to mope around and just get straight out there again as quickly as you can.

“But that has been quite difficult and frustrating for us because we wanted the Leo Santa Cruz fight but they messed us around. They said they would come and then they said they wouldn’t come.

“Then we went down the Lee Selby route and Selby suggested to us that he available and that he’d be happy to enter into negotiations and then we discovered a month down the line that he wasn’t available because he had to make his mandatory against Jonathon Barros and he’s boxing him on July 15.”

THE undercard at the Odyssey Arena on July 29 will feature a new cast of emerging Irish fighters who will be anxious to make their names on the Frampton- Gutierrez undercard.

Steven Ward, Lewis Crocker and Padraig McCrory have all been confirmed so far, as have Frampton’s Cyclone Promotions stablemates Chantelle Cameron and Conrad Cummings.

“We’ve got a couple of young lads coming through,” said Barry McGuigan.

“Steven Ward is a credible cruiserweight, a Commonwealth Games silver medallist, Paddy McCrory is in there and of course Lewis Crocker is on as well and he’s a talented boy.

“Then there’s Chantelle (Cameron) who’s a female fighter and is on the undercard as well. She is looking sensational in the gym.”

Meanwhile, McGuigan predicts an exciting next 12 months for Cummings, the Coalisland middleweight who takes on Robert Swierzbinski (18-6-2) on the Odyssey bill.

‘Mr Dynamite’ bounced back from the first loss of his career against Ronnie Mittag by knocking out Gogi Knezevic to win the vacant WBO European middleweight title back in March and hopes to take a shot at WBO middleweight king Billy Joe Saunders in the near future.

“Conrad who is the main man,” said McGuigan.

“He’s thriving, he’s getting better and he’s now ranked in the top 15 middleweights in the world.

“It’s very exciting times for him.

“The Billy Joe Saunders is a definitely a fight for him in the future. He sparred him in the past and he got on very well against him.

“I think Conrad has come on and it seems to me that Billy Joe is struggling at the minute, he’s going through a difficult time in his career and it’s not an easy time for him. We’re very excited about Conrad’s future and Swierzbinski is a reasonably durable guy but we are expecting Conrad to do a number on him.

“Then who knows what will happen over the next 12 months for Conrad? It could be very exciting.”

SHANE McGuigan-trained ‘Tartan Tornado’ Josh Taylor faces Ohara Davies in Glasgow on Saturday night in a Commonwealth super-lightweight title rumble.

Sparks are sure to fly between Taylor (9-0 with eight stoppage wins) and Londoner who is 15-0, with 12 inside-the-distance victories.

“Without doubt, Davies is a dangerous puncher – you don’t get 12 knockouts in 15 fights without having heavy hands,” said Barry McGuigan.

“He looked very good against Derry Matthews, but you have to assimilate that properly and take into consideration at what stage Matthews was in in his career.

“He’d already been stopped by Luke Campbell at lightweight and he stepped up to light-welterweight. The reality is that Derry Matthews was at his best as a featherweight/super-featherweight.

“The difference is that Josh Taylor is a fully-fledged light-welterweight, he’s a big fella, a big strong guy and he’s been a light-welterweight from the start of his career and he’ll move up to welterweight.

“He is a different kettle of fish. Without doubt we know it’s a dangerous fight, but we’ve trained with that in mind.”