Scott Quigg vs Kiko Martinez set for July 18 in Manchester

Scott Quigg will defend his WBA "world" super bantamweight title on July 18 in Manchester, England, as he faces former titleholder Kiko Martinez at the Manchester Arena, which will air on Sky Sports in the United Kingdom.

Quigg (30-0-2, 22 KO) was recently involved in (predictably) fruitless negotiations for a fight with IBF titleholder Carl Frampton, which would be a big fight in the UK, and has been discussed for a few years now, without ever being close to happening. Now that both are considered top tier super bantamweights, it may be more or less inevitable, but it seems everyone is content to go without it for the time being.

Martinez (32-5, 24 KO) lost his IBF belt to Frampton last year, and had previously been beaten by Frampton in 2013. Other than those two losses, however, the 29-year-old Spaniard has not lost a fight since 2009. He recently entertained a move down to bantamweight, which was allegedly his "natural" division, though he's otherwise fought his entire career as a super bantamweight.

After losing to Frampton the first time, Martinez scored an upset win over Jhonatan Romero to win the IBF belt, then successfully defended against Jeffrey Mathebula and Hozumi Hasegawa. Quigg last fought in November, beating Hidenori Otake by decision.