Carl Frampton knows beating Scott Quigg opens door to more mega-fights

Frampton and Quigg will put their IBF and WBA World titles on the line at the Manchester Arena - and Frampton admits seeing-off the Bury fighter would leave him in a position to fight the elite of the division.

“There’ll be options. Doors will open up. I’d like to unify the super-bantamweight division, there’s potential fights against Nonito Donaire, Guillermo Rigondeaux, Julio Ceja but also Leo Santa Cruz appeals to me at featherweight.”

“Then, with one all-British super-fight done, why not another?

“Lee Selby, is a very good fighter, that would be a mega-fight, but it’s about getting past Quigg first, then we take it from there.

“I just predict a win. Me at my best beats Scott Quigg at his best. I’ll break him down and I’ll knock him out as well.”

And Frampton says that when he wins on February 27 - coach Shane McGuigan will deserve a large chunk of the credit.

“One of the best things about him is how cool and calm he is in the corner.

“If you watch fights of mine in the past, the instructions he lets on to me are very precise and there’s only a couple in between the rounds. That’s important.

“Someone like Joe Gallagher tells his fighter 20 different things but it’s important to only have one or two because you’re just going to forget the rest, aren’t you?

“Shane’s the whole package, everything, nutrition, boxing brain.

“I’m telling you, I think he’s the best coach in the country and I promise, soon you’ll be comparing him with the best in the world,” he added.

And Frampton is sure he will perform better than he did against Alejandro Gonzalez Jr in his last outing in July last year.

“I just thought I was going go in and blow the guy away. Everything was too relaxed, out in the States, in a nice hotel, there was a pool, the weather’s nice, and it didn’t feel right.

“And the first round (when he hit the deck twice) was the worst round of my whole professional career.

“They’re taking confidence from that so it’s probably a blessing in disguise that it happened.

“If I’d gone in and blew Gonzalez away in two rounds, then this fight still wouldn’t be happening.

“You learn from your mistakes. I believe that Scott Quigg is a better fighter than Alejandro Gonzalez but I believe I’m a better fighter than Scott Quigg. I just need to prove it.”

And Frampton added that he has very little time for Quigg’s trainer Joe Gallagher.

“Joe Gallager’s like a petulant child sometimes. In press conferences, for instance, when we’re talking, he’s rolling his eyes like a schoolgirl, pretending he’s not listening. It’s disrespectful and I don’t like that.

“I’ll respect any man that walks into the ring but people like Eddie Hearn and Joe Gallagher who’ve never taken a slap in the mouth in their lives shouldn’t be disrespectful towards me and other fighters. It’s just not on,” added the Tigers Bay man.

Meanwhile Guillermo Rigondeaux will fight in Britain for the first time on Saturday March 12 at the Liverpool Echo Arena when he faces Jazza Dickens.

The Cuban takes on Dickens over ten rounds on the undercard of Terry Flanagan’s WBO World Lightweight title defence against Derry Mathews.