Andy Watters: By all accounts, you’re in ferocious shape. How is training going?
Carl Frampton: I’ve been sparring well, I’ve been flying in the gym. I’ve been going through sparring partners, I’ve been going through the rounds, so all is good, it all seems to be on track.
AW: You admitted after your last fight, against Alejandro Gonzalez junior in Texas in June last year, that making the weight had taken too much out of you. Will it affect your performance against Quigg?
CF: No I don’t think so. We talked about it before the training camp, about getting the weight down early. This has been a long training camp and the plan was to bring the weight down early, which is what I’ve done and hold it at a weight that I feel I can perform best at.
If I wanted to make the weight in the next couple of days, I probably could, so we’ve done the weight right this time. Last time in the States, it was too hot, I was drinking too much water and that was the main problem - I was losing a lot of weight in the gym, but I was drinking water constantly and I misjudged it.
I’m a career super-bantamweight, I haven’t suddenly had a growth spurt. I was 29 this week, I just misjudged it that’s all.
AW: Gonzalez was your worst performance and, on the same night, Quigg produced his best to knock out Kiko Martinez. Fair play to him, he has improved and he’s a credible opponent?
CF: He has improved, but I’ve been calling him out for the last four years. I do think he has improved, but I’ve improved leaps and bounds. Although my last performance wasn’t the best, I’ve still improved as a fighter and I feel like I’m getting stronger in the gym.
I’m getting better, I’m still learning and Quigg definitely has improved, but it’s still going to be the same result as it was four years ago when he wouldn’t allow me to fight for the British title - and that’s a win for me.
AW: The Quigg camp is confident he will hurt you if he catches you clean. Do you rate his power?
CF: He’s definitely a puncher, no doubt about it, he can punch. But I don’t think he can punch any harder than me. Look at the [first] fight with Martinez; I knocked him out with one shot. He had a barrage of shots to get rid of him. It was early in the fight, but it still took him about 20 wild swings from his boots to get rid of him. Kiko was stopped on his feet - he got back up and the referee stopped the fight.
They talk about Quigg having this monstrous power, but I don’t believe that he hits any harder than me. I’m a lot more accurate than him and I throw a lot more punches than him too. He can punch hard, but he’s not the freak that they’re trying to make out.
We visited Holy Trinity Boxing Club in west Belfast to find out what the boxers and coaches think of Frampton's chances:
AW: There wasn’t any love lost during some of the exchanges at the pre-fight press conferences. Is this a grudge match? Is it personal or strictly business?
CF: Every fight is personal. You’re going into the ring to fight another man and I think they’re all personal. But it’s playing the game - if it was up to Quigg to sell this fight, our ma’s would be the only ones watching it.
He doesn’t have an ounce about him, so we’re just playing the game, selling the fight and he can thank me later on when he gets his biggest-ever payday.
AW: Let’s talk about the venue - the Manchester Arena. It’ll be packed out, but you won’t have everybody supporting you… so it won’t be like the Odyssey.
CF: I’m pretty confident at least 70 per cent of the crowd will be behind me in Manchester. That will get to him I think. How will he feel to be standing on the ramp about to walk into the ring and getting booed and he’s supposedly the home fighter? I think it’s going to affect him massively.
AW: You’ve criticised Quigg for not having a ‘boxing brain’. As the fight unfolds, things will happen and he’ll have to adapt to them. Do you think he can?
CF: He’s never been the sharpest tool in the box, but some of the things he said on that Gloves Off thing [on Sky Sports] was just ridiculous. He’s trying to make out that he’s a better boxer than me and he has a better boxing brain. When has he ever showed that in a fight? I don’t know what he’s getting at, he makes himself sound a little bit more daft every day.
He says he can adapt, but any fight that I have seen him in, he has fought the exact same way and I don’t know if he can adapt.
We’ll see on the night because, when things aren’t going his way and he’s losing round after round, he’ll have to change things. Let’s see if he can do that, but I don’t believe he can.
AW: You’ve had great nights at the Odyssey and, of course, at the Titanic Showdown when you won the title. But is this the biggest fight of your career?
CF: At this point of my career, it’s a huge fight. Not as many people will get the chance to see it as I would like because it’s on pay-per-view, but that’s just the way boxing is going.
I’ve been ready for this for a long time, its been a long time coming and I’m starting to get the itch now and get excited about it.
AW: Did you always believe you’d get to this stage?
CF: To be honest, no. I always had a belief in myself, I always thought I’d be a better professional than I was amateur and that my style would be more suited to the pro game. But I never thought that things would get as big, I never thought I’d have the fan base and support that I have. I always thought I could do well as a pro, but things have even exceeded my wildest dreams.
This fight will be on Showtime and it’ll be shown in a lot of countries around the world. Even the Titanic Showdown - it was shown in 90 countries, it’s crazy when you think about it, the amount of people that can see you doing what you love to do. I never dreamed it would get this big.
AW: You’re in London now, away from your young family and concentrating on the fight. Time will drag by until February 27, won’t it?
CF: It seems to have went pretty fast up to this point in the training camp. It’s been a long camp, but it has flew in. I’m expecting it to start to drag from here to the fight because you’re getting that much more excited - it’s a bit like Christmas, you can’t wait for it to come.
This is something I’ve really wanted for four years and we’re only two weeks away from it now. I’m excited, but I know it’s going to drag in.
AW: How do you put the time in?
CF: Being away from my family is the hardest part about this game. That’s another thing, they make out that Quigg is more dedicated than me, but I come away from my family. I have a son, Rossa, who just turned one and my daughter Carla is five and I missed both their birthdays this year. I missed my son taking his first steps - all these things I miss are because I’m dedicated and because I come away from home to train because I know it benefits my career.
The hardest thing is being away from your family and missing those things, but it’s going to be all worth it when I look back. People are making a mistake if they think Scott Quigg is more dedicated than me.
AW: He went to the Wildcard Gym in LA just a few days after beating Kiko. Is that a sign of his dedication?
CF: He goes to the Wildcard. Who’s his trainer? He goes and trains with Freddie Roach in the Wildcard, but I know that I prefer to stay at home and train with my trainer, who is Shane McGuigan.
I suppose he thinks it’s beneficial for him that he’s going out to spar other guys. It doesn’t make sense to me to go out and train with another person. We fly in our sparring partners - guys who have fought for world titles, tough Mexicans, tough South Americans - and I do it in London with Shane.
They make a big deal out of Quigg going to the Wildcard, but it’s bullshit, to be honest. He’ll be getting used over there; he’ll be getting used by the Wildcard fighters. He’ll not take any priority over there and, when they want to spar him, they’ll spar him.
AW: Your gym must be busy at the moment. Shane McGuigan’s star is on the rise. Is there a different buzz in the gym, having David Haye and George Groves in the gym now?
CF: I’m a world champion in my own right, but they are probably two of the most recognisable names in British boxing at the minute. I still look up to them. They’re good craic, they train hard when they have to, but they are actually good lads away from the gym when we’re sitting down having a bit of craic.
There’s good camaraderie and that’s what I like, you don’t like to take this game too serious. Once you train hard, you do your sessions and put everything into it and then you want to just rest your body and your mind and chill out and have a laugh. That’s what I like, I like to be around people. I like to be chatting.
AW: I can tell you are relaxed and in good form.
CF: I’m not getting too heated. They think they’re getting under my skin - Gallagher and all - but they’re not, that’s playing the game. It looked like I was really wound up in some of the press conferences but, after I had a shouting match, literally 20 seconds later I’m speaking to Jake McGuigan and saying: ‘Do you want to go for a cup of coffee?’
At weigh-ins against Chris Avalos and Kiko Martinez, I looked like I was riled up, but I wasn’t. They’re trying to get under my skin and make me fight like I don’t normally fight, but I’m not Scott Quigg, I'm not daft and I’m just going to do my own thing and do whatever it takes to get the win.
AW: I know you don’t like to make predictions but…
CF: All I predict is a win and I have the punch power to take Scott Quigg out in any round. If I hit him clean in the first round, would it surprise me if I knock him out? Absolutely not. I carry my power through the fight and I have the power to knock him in any round, but I’ve also got a superior boxing brain to make this a one-sided beat-down.
It doesn’t matter what happens really, I just focus on my performance. If he starts to open up a bit more and gets a bit braver, then that’s when he could get clipped and when it could be all over. The icing on the cake would be to knock him and that could well happen.
