Prince Naseem Hamed sure Carl Frampton will be crowned WBA king

The Belfast fighter will challenge Leo Santa Cruz for the Mexican’s belt as the Tigers Bay man attempts to become a two weight World champion.

Santa Cruz is an unbeaten three weight World champion but Prince Naseem Hamed agrees with Dave ‘Boy’ McAuley that Frampton will get the job done.

McAuley told the News Letter last week that he thought Frampton would have too much for the Mexican and former WBC, IBF and WBO World champion Hamed agrees with McAuley’s prediction.

“Carl is a great fighter and I knew he would have too much for Scott Quigg in his last fight,” Hamed told Sky Sports.

“I remember when I fought against Kevin Kelly at Madison Square Garden. I was just a kid from Sheffield and it was amazing to see my name up in lights like that.

“I think Carl is more than capable of handling the occasion and even though he is stepping up from super-bantamweight to featherweight I have every confidence he can get the job done against Santa Cruz.”

And Virgil Hunter insists Amir Khan would be a superior fighter if he had always trained him, revealing a belief his previous development has been flawed.

Khan has been groomed for a high-level career since winning an Olympic silver medal aged 17 at Athens 2004, but 12 years later and despite his widely recognised natural talent, he is not yet considered among Britain’s greats.

On Saturday he challenges WBC middleweight champion Saul Alvarez at Las Vegas’ new T-Mobile Arena and, after being appointed Khan’s trainer in 2012 after the 29-year-old’s disappointing performances under predecessors Freddie Roach, Jorge Rubio and Oliver Harrison, Hunter believes his fighter is still capable of more.

“It’s not Amir’s fault,” the American, who also trains Andre Ward said.

“I can very well imagine that once his speed and competitiveness was on display, if you’re not a real seasoned coach, you can be satisfied, right there.

“I didn’t cheat to get into the game, I served great apprenticeships under great coaches the world will never know. I never get caught up in his strengths, I always address what I feel could be a flaw or a weakness, or something that could get him in trouble.

“When you have his gifts, if he didn’t have the right coach, the coach could get enamoured in his gifts and not challenge him to continue to cultivate him, to develop him, because he’s winning, he’s a phenom, he’s making you (the coach) look good.

“Sometimes coaches with no experience like that feeling... they like that adulation they get with this charge that they’ve got out there so they take their eyes off developing him and they get caught up in the moment.”

The undefeated Ward is a contender to be the world’s finest pound-for-pound fighter in the absence of the retired Floyd Mayweather.

Hunter has guided the undefeated 32-year-old, who is incidentally his godson, since the age of nine, and having already improved Khan, he remains confident he still has time to inspire him to fulfil his undoubted potential.

“If I’d had him at nine, man, we wouldn’t be talking about Mayweather or nobody, we’d be talking about Amir Khan.

“But that day is still possible... this fight has a lot to do with what goes on with the rest of his career. He is a fantastic fighter.”