Fight could be off as Frampton and Quigg square up
BOTH Carl Frampton and Scott Quigg are threatening to pull out of one of the most keenly anticipated fights in British boxing history.
What began as a seemingly trivial wrangle over which of them should occupy the most commodious dressing room at the Manchester Arena tomorrow night has escalated into a heated deadlock between the UK’s rival world superbantamweight champions.
An exchange of insults plus the pushing and shoving at the staredown for the photographers ended with each of the fighters insisting they will walk away from this blockbuster rather than give way on Dressing-Room-Gate.
Would they really turn their backs on a pay-day projected at £2million for Quigg and £1.5m for Frampton?
‘Two million?’ said Quigg. ‘I don’t care about that. I’m not materialistic in the slightest. Manchester is my town. This is my arena. I get my dressing room or I’m out of here.’
To which Frampton replied: ‘It won’t bother me. This started out as a bit of a laughing matter as far as I was concerned but they’ve turned it into a point of principle.
‘If we don’t do this I’ve got plenty of other options.’
But Frampton did offer a solution: ‘There are two identical rooms next to each other. I’m the A-side in this fight but I’ll compromise with us taking one of those each and locking the door of the one in question.’
Quigg replied: ‘There is no A-side here. We’re both world champions. The problem here is his ego. He’s so arrogant he thinks he can call the shots on every little thing.’
Frampton: ‘My ego? The problem here is their superstition about Quigg using the space he’s become accustomed to when boxing here. And that shows weakness.’
The outside world will be asking: does it really matter?
Shane McGuigan, trainer son of Frampton’s legendary promoter Barry, argued that it does: ‘ That dressing room is more spacious and the flooring is much more suitable for warming up — and the warm-up is key.
‘They keep saying this is a 50-50 fight. So if they really believe that then it’s not right that either boxer should have the advantage of a better space in which to get ready. Lock that door and they’ve got a fight.’
The perceived equality between Quigg, the WBA champion, and Frampton, the IBF king, has embittered the pre-fight rivalry between two undefeated boxers who confess to respect for each other’s ability.
So doggedly did the McGuigans negotiate the terms that Quigg’s trainer Joe Gallagher said: ‘We’ve given them pretty much everything they asked for. Carl gets his name first on the posters. He makes the ring walk last. He demanded that three of the four officials including the referee are from America. He’s been given the big ring he wants. Was it worth it for them? We’ve got home advantage and they couldn’t sell their quota of tickets.’
Again Belfast’s Frampton hit back: ‘Not only did we sell all our tickets but I had to buy 10 £200 tickets from your camp for friends who couldn’t get seats.
‘We’ll see on the night whose got the most support in the crowd.’ Quigg: ‘This is my town.’
As the banter turned boorish, Frampton switched on his iPhone, raised it in Quigg’s direction and played that song in which the key lyric is this: ‘Very superstitious, writing’s on the wall.’
Maybe it is. But on the wall of which dressing room?