Carl Frampton reveals why Rigondeaux fight never happened

Carl Frampton has explained why the battle of ‘The Jackal’s’ never happened.

‘The Jackal’ and ‘El Chacal’ Guillermo Rigondeaux were regularly linked after the Belfast fighter beat Kiko Martinez to claim the IBF super bantamweight world title in September of 2017.

The Cuban, one of the greatest amateur fighters of all time, was particularly keen and the fact Gary Hyde was his manager made it an easy fight to make.

‘Rigo’s’ win over Willie Casey also meant he was known to Irish fight fans and a name regularly brought up during the period Frampton hadn’t an opponent confirmed.

The former two weight world champion reveals it was a fight he would have ‘loved’ but suggests it didn’t make financial sense.

Typical of the two time Olympic gold medal winners career it appears he was too good for his own good and the risks well outweighed the financial reward.

“I would have loved the Rigondeaux fight. People always ask ‘well, why did you not fight him?,” Frampton said before joking “I’ll tell you why I didn’t fight him…because he was very good!

“Second, the money wasn’t in it. And this game is a business. Obviously, it is about winning world titles which was important to me, but I wanted to set up security for my family, my kids and my wife.

“They were talking about me fighting Rigondeaux around the same time I got offered the Leo Santa Cruz fight.

“I am not exaggerating here, but the Leo fight was literally five times the money to fight someone who probably wasn’t as good as Rigondeaux, so what would you do?”

Frampton beat Santa Cruz in the summer of 2016 to become a two-weight world champion before losing the rematch in January 2017.

Rigondeaux mainly campaigned at super-bantamweight and reigned as WBA world champion – he is still fighting at 41 and lost his last two fights to John Riel Casimero and Vincent Astrolabio respectively.