No sooner had Eddie Hearn offered Carl Frampton £1.5m to defend his IBF world super-bantamweight title against Carl Quigg in Manchester on July 18th, than the Belfast boxer had rejected it.

Quigg, who holds the WBA version of the title and fights for Hearn’s Matchroom on Sky, sounds desperate to get Frampton into the ring after a long layoff through injury. But the negotiations with the Irishman’s manager and promoter, Barry McGuigan, have been as tortuous as the Bury boxer’s recovery.

McGuigan wants the fight on ITV, who returned to big-time boxing when Frampton defended his title in style with a fifth-round stoppage of the willing but outclassed American Chris Avalos in Belfast in February. Hearn wants to deliver another pay-per-view night for Sky.

However, while Hearn wants to promote the fight alone, Frampton’s representatives, Cyclone Promotions, are determined it should be a joint venture. Hearn and McGuigan had one informal meeting recently but the matter was left unresolved.

“My team and I have been in negotiations with Matchroom Sport to co-promote this fight,” Frampton said. “It has been made very clear to Matchroom Sport throughout the entire negotiation period that this huge domestic fight can only take place as a co-promotion. It is therefore frustrating that Matchroom have deviated from negotiations with this offer.”

Guardian Services