McGuigan: Frampton-Quigg talks further along than ever before

Blain McGuigan, the CEO of Cyclone Promotions and son of Barry McGuigan, says that the talks to finally put on a fight between 122-pound titleholders Carl Frampton and Scott Quigg are now further along than ever before, and that the fight, while far from official, is looking more likely to take place.

"I'm not going to set a date, but it's been ongoing for a very long time now. What I will say is that we are probably at the best stage it has ever been."

McGuigan also says that while Belfast can't be ruled out as the site of the fight, the smaller Odyssey Arena, where Frampton has gone 5-0 including wins over Kiko Martinez, Hugo Cazares, and Chris Avalos, doesn't make financial sense for a matchup the magnitude of Frampton-Quigg. McGuigan does say there are outdoor venues in Belfast that could be attractive, but if one had to guess, this is a fight that likely would take place in London or Manchester, where there are bigger venues close enough to Belfast that Frampton would still have plenty of support.

As of now, Frampton (21-0, 14 KO) holds the IBF super bantamweight title, though he did struggle a bit early in his U.S. debut against Alejandro Gonzalez Jr on July 18. Quigg (31-0-2, 23 KO) scored a career-best win on the same date in Manchester, knocking out Kiko Martinez in the second round. Quigg holds the WBA "world" title, second to Guillermo Rigondeaux's WBA "super world" title.