Carl Frampton, the unbeaten Irish star who added the WBA super-bantamweight title to his IBF crown with his recent points win over Scott Quigg, has been stripped of the title. The WBA, seeing how Frampton has no intention of facing his mandatory challenger, Guillermo Rigondeaux – the WBA’s champion in recess – stripped him. Frampton has made no secret of the fact that he intends to move up in weight and challenge Leo Santa Cruz in an expected summer blockbuster.
According to the WBA, avoided and unbeaten Cuban Rigondeaux must face interim champ Moises Flores on or before August 1st. There is no guarantee this fight will happen, as seemingly nobody wants to take on the formidable boxing skills of southpaw Rigo, but if the two do meet, fans will see an interesting fight between two unbeaten talents.
29-year-old Flores, 24-0(17) and hailing from Mexico, won the interim WBA belt with a thrilling win over Oscar Escandon a year ago, the split decision win coming after a great fight. Since then, Flores has stopped Luis Cusolito, in September of last year. A very good fighter, Flores might just be capable of giving Rigondeaux a hard night’s work. Rigondeaux, 16-0(10) is not getting any younger at age 35 and inactivity might soon start to take its toll on his formidable skills. Last seen out-pointing Drian Francisco in November, Rigondeaux has boxed just four times since April of 2013.
British fans missed out on seeing the exceptional talent in the flesh recently, when a visa issue ruined Rigo’s scheduled fight with Jazza Dickens. Pound-for-pound one of the absolute best in the sport today, Rigondeaux must be about as frustrated as is possible to imagine right now. A great fighter, who wants the big, big fights, “El Chacal” needs to get his career moving. Hopefully, now that Frampton is definitely out (to no-one’s real surprise, what with Frampton’s manager Barry McGuigan saying immediately after his fighter’s win over Quigg that he had no interest in what would be a “dull fight” with the Cuban) the Flores fight will go ahead.
It would be almost criminal to see Rigondeaux’s sheer talent go largely to waste. As for Frampton, he may well pick up another belt in the summer at the expense of Santa Cruz. That fight is a tough one for both men, but Frampton has a better shot against the Mexican than he would have had against the Cuban slickster.