Home Fight Results Ringside Report: Carl Frampton vs Scott Quigg – The Jackal Bites

Ringside Report: Carl Frampton vs Scott Quigg – The Jackal Bites

Photo credit: Matchroom Boxing

Carl Frampton (21-0-0) vs Scott Quigg (31-0-2) IBF & WBA World Super-bantamweight championship.

27-02-16, Manchester Arena

Build-up

This was a fight that had been over four years in the making, a fight that had a global appeal and was truly a showcase for boxing.

The antics of both teams in fight week had further added to the tension, with tit-for-tat snipes at each other and arguments over changing rooms. Arguments that had even included the trainers, promoters and even security teams.

Entrance

With the atmosphere having steadily built throughout the deep undercard, Michael Buffer let the world know that it was indeed time to rumble.

I’ve attended the Manchester Arena for a number of fights over the years, but the atmosphere has never reached the heights of last night. From the raucous renditions of ‘Sweet Caroline’ and Blur’s ‘Song 2’ the ground was shaking with the anticipation of what was to come.

Quigg entered the ring first. He looked strong, having filled out from the weigh-in the previous day and he looked very confident. He was smiling and soaking up the atmosphere, including the deafening boos from the Irish faithful.

Frampton then followed, with the crowd reaching new levels of noise. He too looked focused, but my first impression was that he looked too aggressive, with too much emotion. He soon proved me wrong.

Photo credit: Matchroom Boxing
Photo credit: Matchroom Boxing

Fight

The first bell rang and the two fighters met in the middle of the ring. Round one was a very cagey affair on both sides, but Quigg did the least, just following Frampton around the ring, taking one or two jabs to the nose. Frampton’s round.

Rounds two and three and more of the same, very little from Quigg. It looked to me that the tactic was to try and catch Frampton early with a big counter. Frampton wasn’t doing much himself but was certainly winning the rounds.

Round four and more of the same again. What I didn’t realise at the time was that the crisp upper-cut Frampton landed on Quigg had actually broken Quigg’s jaw. If anything the fourth had started to see Quigg step up his game slightly, but again this was a Frampton round.

Five and six and again more of the same. Quigg showing very little aggression, when he did get through he didn’t follow it up. He certainly wasn’t using his superb fitness by fighting at a high tempo and trying to tire Frampton.

Rounds seven and eight, Quigg started to push the tempo and the rounds were certainly much closer. He caught Frampton on a couple of occasions and started to follow his work up, but it just didn’t feel like he was doing enough.

Round nine was the first I could give to Quigg with certainty. He really upped the pressure and was starting to trade with Frampton. Frampton looked to be suffering slightly and it looked like the tide was turning. However round nine is far too late.

Rounds ten and eleven and again more of the same from Quigg. Really good high tempo pressure boxing. Quigg looked to have Frampton in trouble but the Jackal survived.

Final round, Frampton stepped back a little, probably with the knowledge that the fight was his if he stayed on his feet. Quigg put in a valiant effort, probably took the round, but it was all too late.

Even giving Quigg the eighth I had It 115-113 to Frampton.

The three judges scored it 116-112 to Frampton (x2), 115-113 to Quigg for a split decision victory to Frampton, much to the delight of Frampton’s supporters.

Scores

The scores appeared to generate a great deal of mixed emotion. Some of the sky team had Quigg winning by a couple where as some others commentators had Frampton ahead by up to seven rounds. I won’t lie. I’m biased on this one, I wanted so much for Quigg to win and although the split decision showed a very close fight, it really wasn’t close until the latter rounds.

Quigg

Quigg’s bravery to continue to not only fight but take over in the latter rounds shows him to be a true warrior and the only thing he may regret is not stepping on the gas sooner. If anything breaking his jaw spurred him on, which says everything anyone needs to know about his heart.

He’ll feel devastated this morning and for some time to come, but that’s because he’s a winner. If he wasn’t fussed then there would be a problem.

The fight, the exposure Quigg has received and the fan base I believe he has built can only spur his career on further. This will be very painful for him in the short-term but this is something he can build on and come back stronger.

So what actually went wrong? For me, either the tactics were wrong, or Quigg executed the plan incorrectly. It very much looked like the whole plan was to counter Frampton for the KO. Fair enough given his last performance, but surely when this had seen the first few rounds slip away something needed to change quickly and it didn’t. I feel if Quigg had gone at a fast tempo from the first bell, pressurising and tiring Frampton he would have used his strengths more and would have had a greater chance of success, as he did in the latter rounds.

This fight reminded me of Eubank jnr vs Saunders. The difference there being Eubank started his comeback earlier and for me just took the fight.

Credit Matchroom Boxing
Credit Matchroom Boxing

Frampton

Frampton looked strong throughout, starting with a strong jab and decent movement. He was making Quigg miss and doing enough to take the early rounds. Where he started to slip up was the latter rounds when he started to come under pressure from Quigg.

Overall it was a solid performance and enough to win the fight. However, how would he react if he faced high tempo pressure for a full12 rounds?

This was a superb win for Frampton and his legions of supporters. More big nights are to come for the Belfast native.

What’s next?

Quigg can look to rebuild and go again. Both himself and his team would have learned a great deal from this fight and should look to use his strengths more. I can’t imagine any extreme reaction like changing trainers, but you never know.

Frampton, clearly the victor can look for the bigger purses and bigger exposure in the short-term. His next move will be crucial.

Fights

All the fights out there for Frampton are also out there for Quigg. Santa Cruz, Rigondeaux, rematch?

I think the rematch would be the money choice. Given Quigg’s late surge the interest in the rematch would be significant and would certainly generate more interest from the North West. Whether the McGuigans would allow this to happen I don’t know. Maybe in Belfast?

Santa Cruz for Frampton? This is cyclone promotions favoured option, with an anticipated bout in New York. This would be a very interesting contest with Frampton moving up in weight and would be sure to generate the dollars.

Rigondeaux for Frampton? For me this is the man to beat and until a fighter has a victory over him can they genuinely say they are the main man? The problem here is when looking at risks vs rewards, the risks are very high and the rewards are likely to be lower than other options. We’ll see. He is the WBA mandatory challenger but it may well be more enticing to vacate.

Quigg? I don’t believe he’ll take a significant step down in class and continue to compete at world level, even in the short term. Maybe get on the good old Bury black pudding and move up to featherweight?

Conclusion

Despite Quigg’s loss I believe the future is still bright for both fighters. I would love to see a rematch next, with Quigg truly showing what he’s made of from the first bell.

Rest of the action

My fight of the night was Hosea Burton’s victory over Miles Shinkwin to take the British light-heavyweight title, a fight and belt that surely deserved a later slot on the undercard.

Shinkwin had a good first, followed up by a massive effort by Burton knocking Miles down in the second. Shinkwin showed a remarkable recovery in the third, bloodying Burton. The action slowed somewhat in the fourth, but Burton accelerated again in the fifth putting Miles down for a second time. Burton came out with force and put Shinkwin out on his feet.

This was a superb bout, with Burton being cheered on by Tyson Fury & Co. at ringside.

Gavin McDonnell put in a dominate performance over Panamanian Jorge Sanchez to win the WBC silver strap and eliminator for the WBC super-bantamweight crown. McDonnell had Sanchez down in the second with an excellent three punch combo, but couldn’t finish the job. McDonnell’s apparent lack of power may be an issue at the highest level, but he’s getting the job done for now.

Isaac Lowe put on a superb performance to defeat Marco McCullough via eight round TKO for the Commonwealth featherweight title, with the towel coming in from McCullough’s corner. Lowe was again cheered on by Tyson Fury and associates at ringside.

Charlie Edwards defeated Luke Wilton via a ten round UD for the WBC international silver flyweight title. Edwards looked impressive, especially early on, but didn’t have enough to finish the job against Wilton.

Ryan Burnett’s fight against the Frenchman Anthony Settoul followed a similar path, with Burnett starting very well, getting a knock down in round five but again not having enough to finish the job. He looked to try too hard for the KO, throwing massive bombs, rather than trying to set his opponent up.

Conrad Cummings won on points over six rounds against Victor Garcia at middleweight.

Josh Taylor looked impressive with a second round KO win over Lyes Chaibi of France at super-lightweight.

Scott Fitzgerald finished off the game Ben Heap in the third round at super-welterweight and Marcus Morrison won by first round KO against Istvan Kiss at middleweight.

Overall

A superb night of boxing with a loud crowd in (Mostly) good spirit. There will be more to come from Quigg and Frampton.

Stuart Bruno Brown reporting from ringside.

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