Hatton undercard preview: Scott Quigg vs Rendall Munroe

Dave Oakes begins his preview of the Hatton-Senchenko undercard with a look at Rendall Munroe vs Scott Quigg.

With Ricky Hatton’s comeback attracting all the attention, the exciting undercard to Saturday’s headliner has gone unnoticed by a lot of people. It’s an undercard with depth, including three potential show stealers, most notably of which is the rematch between Scott Quigg and Rendall Munroe.

The pair met in June this year in what was expected to be a potential contender for fight of the year, unfortunately the bout was waved off in the third round after a head clash left Munroe with a horrendous cut above his right eye.

There wasn’t much between the two when the fight was stopped, Munroe had taken the opener but Quigg had won the second. There were no clear indications as to who was going to have the upper hand as the fight progressed. Hopefully nothing will stop the fight prematurely on Saturday and we can finally get to see who the number one super-bantam in Britain is.

The fight pits men at different stages of their respective careers up against one another. Munroe is the more experienced fighter having fought at European level on a number of occasions, not forgetting his brave but fruitless attempt for the world title against the recently retired Toshiaki Nishioka. Whereas Quigg is the up-and-comer who still has a lot to prove, despite what’s been an impressive start to his career.

One feels that a loss for Munroe would be far more devastating for his career than a loss would be to Quigg’s. At 32, Munroe is edging towards last chance saloon time, one defeat could spell the end for any aspirations he has at world level, Munroe knows this himself and will be dangerous because of it.

Quigg is the fresher fighter; he also holds the edge in punch power and most likely in physical strength. He knows a win here will put him within touching distance of a world title bout and a possible future meeting with arch rival Carl Frampton.

The fight is a hard one to pick, both boxers will be in fantastic shape and both will be hungry. It should be a nip and tuck affair and will almost definitely go to the scorecards, where Quigg should prevail by the slimmest of margins.

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