Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
CARL: I’M NO QUITTER
Davis could be real Ray of light
CARL FRAMPTON is fighting on because he is adamant he can still win another world title.
Frampton admits he felt like quitting after losing to IBF featherweight champ Josh Warrington before Christmas before realising he still has the desire to carry on.
“Initially, after the fight I didn’t want to box any more, that was it,” the two-weight world champ told Mirror Sport. “Then I reflected on it, had a bit of a think and just thought it was a bad night.
“I wouldn’t want to finish on a fight like that. I feel I have a lot more to give and I want to prove it.
“It’s almost like a redemption crusade now. I still believe I can beat guys like Warrington and Oscar Valdez.
“I want to win a world title again. I think I can do that and I want to do it sooner rather than later.”
Frampton, who turns 32 this month, has ruled out going back down to superbantamweight, where he won the IBF and WBA titles, and insists he is sticking with trainer Jamie Moore.
“Jamie is a quality trainer and I will continue to be with him,” said the Belfast fighter. “Leaving him has not crossed my mind.”
“Featherweight is my weight. Super-bantamweight was suggested to me and I said if something came up, I would consider it.
“From that came the headlines ‘Carl Frampton is going back down to superbantamweight’, but that’s not how it is.
“You keep all your options open, but at this moment in time I am a featherweight fighter.”
FRAMPTON was speaking ahead of the launch of his new weekly boxing show, TKO, with Joe.co.uk. The show is available to download as a podcast at https://playpodca.st/tko and is also available on Youtube. GERVONTA DAVIS may well be the best young fighter out of Baltimore since the great Sugar Ray Leonard.
With all that speed and blinding combinations, he certainly has a lot of Leonard in him. What we don’t know yet is if he can take a shot like Leonard or handle fame as well as the great man.
He looks very special, with all but one of his 20 wins coming by knockout. He walked through an unbeaten Jose Pedraza in seven rounds to claim the IBF super featherweight crown two years ago, the same Pedraza that went the distance with Vasyl Lomachenko.
And he ran through unbeaten Liam Walsh at the Copperbox in London four months later, in his first defence, before inflicting a first loss on Francisco Fonseca.
Unfortunately, Davis failed to make the weight that night so his title was declared vacant. No bother, he stopped Jesus Cuellar (above) to claim the WBA belt last April.
He makes his first defence against Hugo Ruiz in California tonight, in what will be only his second fight in 18 months.
Davis, 24, needs to be kept busy to keep his head pointing in the right direction. The failure to make weight was perhaps an indication of discipline issues. Inactivity has been a point of tension between Davis and his promoter, Floyd Mayweather Jr, though it looks settled with the promise of three definite dates this year.
Davis, the youngest of three, was taken into care at the age of five. An uncle introduced him to boxing, aged eight, to keep him out of trouble. He admits it changed the course of his life.
I don’t expect Ruiz to detain Davis too long. The future is for Davis to shape up at super featherweight or lightweight, with the prospect of a mouthwatering showdown with Lomachenko.
Follow Barry on Twitter at @Clonescyclone @Mcguigans_ Gym @Cyclonepromo