Carl Frampton vs Scott Quigg: David Haye sure of Frampton victory
Wednesday 24 February 2016 18:03, UK
David Haye is in no doubt Carl Frampton will prove too good for Scott Quigg having been "mesmerised" by the Northern Irishman's training.
IBF world super-bantamweight champion Frampton (21-0-KO14) heads into Saturday's Sky Sports Box Office unification bout with WBA holder Quigg (31-0-2-KO23) as a slight favourite with the bookmakers.
Haye, however, is adamant the match-up is more one-sided having trained side by side with Frampton since joining Shane McGuigan's gym.
The former world heavyweight champion told Sky Sports News HQ: "For me, Carl Frampton's technique, punch variety, movement and angles are a bit better than Quigg's.
"Quigg is very good, strong and has great punch output but I don't believe this fight is about fitness or power - it's about technique and who can adapt on the night. That falls with Frampton.
After the last sparring session I thought: 'Wow. There's only going to be one winner in this fight.' I didn't know he could do that.
"I've seen him adapt in training. Do something in one spar and then do something completely different. His last few sessions, I was mesmerised. I've seen a lot of fighters up close. I've seen him progress to the point where he could do anything in the ring. He was avoiding everything and land what he wanted to land.
"After the last sparring session I thought: 'Wow. There's only going to be one winner in this fight.' I didn't know he could do that. I was like: 'Are you going to do that on the night? Then it's going to be easy for you.'
"It's going to be absolute fireworks. It's a great thing for a country to have a champion but when you've got two from the same country, it makes for a huge fight. The last time was myself against Enzo Maccarinelli. He had a lot more hype than I had so when we fought at The O2, it was really special. The first big fight I ever had.
"That fight was supposed to be a 50-50 fight but in my heart, I knew it was heavily in my favour. The same thing is being said about Frampton v Quigg but after seeing what I've seen in training, I believe it's in Frampton's favour.
"It's going to be special and people will look back at this fight in years to come and say it was where the superstar was born."
Frampton's preparation has been honed to perfection by McGuigan, whose willingness to embrace new ideas has impressed Haye enormously.
"He's open-minded," he added. "He's young - only 27 - so he hasn't been tainted by the game. His enthusiasm for boxing is there and he's willing to learn, willing to look at his own work and improve day in, day out.
"The thing that gives him the edge is he doesn't think he knows it all. When a trainer gets to a position where he thinks he knows better than any other trainer is where he stops learning. Frampton has adapted throughout this training camp."
Carl Frampton vs Scott Quigg, exclusively live on Sky Sports Box Office on February 27, is available to order via Sky remote and online
