Best super-bantamweights on a mega-fight collision course

Photograph: ESPN

Guillermo Rigondeaux and Carl Frampton are by general consensus the two best super-bantamweights in the world and a buzz is slowly building around a potential unification bout. Rigondeaux’s manager Gary Hyde has made it clear that he wants either Frampton or Scott Quigg now that a potential Leo Santa Cruz fight has been scuppered by the WBC champion’s loyalty to Al Haymon’s career plan. Frampton’s team are averting their gaze towards Quigg but the Rigondeaux fight must surely be on the radar at some point.

“Here’s the thing about Rigondeaux – it doesn’t make sense,” countered Barry. “Everybody is screaming about Guillermo Rigondeaux but look what happened him in his last fight. He fought a Japanese guy [Hisashi Amagasa] – a big stringy kid who couldn’t really punch – and he was dropped twice, but when Frampton hits them he knocks them out.

“Rigondeaux is not an exciting fight at the minute and it’s not something that attracts us. Quigg does, Santa Cruz does, so we want the unification fights. Quigg was here tonight. Nonito Donaire has come down as well. We want those unification fights and there are many options out there. The other options make more sense, Quigg and Santa Cruz and then, further down the line, we can do business with Rigondeaux. The other two make much more sense for now.”

Barry then went on to assess Frampton’s destruction of mandatory challenger Chris Avalos.

“I suppose the perfect scenario would have been for it to go another couple of rounds, but it indicates Carl Frampton’s power. I’ve always did that he’s the hardest punching super-bantamweight in the world. There isn’t a harder puncher in the division in the world,” opined McGuigan.

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