– Ciarán Gallagher reports from Manchester
CARL FRAMPTON JOKED that he will contemplate a new choice of ringwalk music for his Saturday-night showdown against Scott Quigg after playing a clip of Stevie Wonder’s ‘Superstition’ in response to a farcical row over dressing-room allocation for the fight.
An ongoing war of words between Frampton and Quigg was reignited at Thursday’s final pre-fight press conference as news emerged that the pair are at loggerheads over who will take the “star” dressing-room at the Manchester Arena for this weekend’s world super-bantamweight title unification bout on Sky Box Office.
While the issue may appear trivial, it is just the latest topic to cause ill feeling between both fighters’ backroom teams in a rivalry that has been brewing since the pair were first mooted to fight over five years ago.
Frampton appeared to be citing the issue in order to wind up Quigg, who is apparently superstitious over wanting to prepare in his preferred changing room on fight night and the Belfast native amusingly played a clip of Wonder’s 1972 hit through his iPhone during the press conference.
“It’s a bit of a laughing matter on my part anyway. There’s a bit of a dispute,” explained Frampton. “Scott wants the dressing-room that the star of the show normally gets… He’s very superstitious and wants that dressing-room.
“It’s not the ‘home’ (home fighter) dressing-room. It’s the star of the show dressing-room… I’m the A-side fighter here.”
Frampton defends his IBF world title on Saturday while Quigg puts his WBA belt on the line, but Quigg’s team have agreed to Frampton being afforded the privileges normally associated with being ‘champion’ on fight night and the Belfast native has had first billing in the promotional build-up and will walk to the ring second.
However, Bury native Quigg has argued that he should have the “star” dressing-room at Manchester Arena as the ‘home’ fighter.
Frampton continually questioned Quigg’s apparently superstitious motivation for his demand throughout the press conference as the pre-fight mind games took a bizarre turn.
“I think we’ve got to them, the tables have turned now,” said Frampton after a press conference which saw both fighters’ teams attempt to undermine and mock the opposition.
“I can’t get too emotionally involved and that’s what they’ve been trying to get me to do,” continued the Belfast native on Quigg’s trainer Joe Gallagher and promoter Eddie Hearn’s earlier efforts to rile the Irishman.
“They’re the ones that are emotionally involved now. They’ve made a lot of big, bold statements,” added Frampton.
While the dressing-room debate seems unlikely to derail the fight, Team Frampton have maintained that the issue will only be resolved if Quigg agrees to leave the disputed changing room vacant or allows Frampton to occupy it.
Frampton also dismissed rumours that he may struggle to make the 122lb super-bantamweight limit, claiming his 17-week pre-fight training camp has him in prime condition.
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