Frampton wants Hyland/Casey winner

1 November 2010 – By Cormac Campbell

Belfast super-bantamweight Carl Frampton wants to fight the winner of this weekends all Irish European title fight between Willie Casey and Paulie Hyland as soon as possible.

Unbeaten Frampton, 7-0 (4KO), who fights Gavin Reid for the Celtic super-bantamweight crown on Barry McGuigans second Ulster Hall show on Friday, December 3 will be a keen observer of Saturdays action in Limerick.

Its great to see two Irish boxers fight each other for the European title for the first time and I wish them both the best of luck, Irish Boxings Prospect of the Year Frampton said.

It shows just how strong boxing is here that we have three boxers at this level in the same division at the same time. I know the winner will have to fight Kiko Martinez in his first defence, but after that I want first crack. Im confident I can beat Hyland, Casey and Martinez now, and in six months time Ill be even better.

Frampton is busy preparing for his first Championship bout with Scotsman Reid and believes he will show further improvement from his third round stoppage of Yuriy Voronin last time out.

I was very happy with how I boxed against Voronin, but there is so much more to come. The sparring I am getting is unbelievable and now I am preparing for a 10 round championship fight I have no fear of doing 12.

Promoter Barry McGuigan agrees that his charge deserves to be mentioned in the same breath as Hyland and Casey.

Carl has all the tools to get to the very top and even though he has only had seven fights I would be happy to put him in against Hyland or Casey right now, former World Featherweight Champion McGuigan said.

Willie has only had 10 fights himself and three of them were in one night on Prizefighter so I dont believe experience would be an issue. Carl was one of the most successful Irish amateurs in recent years and since turning pro we have had him work with some of the best super-bantams and feathers in Europe so he knows how to adapt to any situation.

The December 3 card will be televised live on Setanta Sports and will also feature local stars Jamie Conlan, Stephen Haughian and Ryan Greene as well as Englands Chris Keane and Troy James. Further undercard action will be announced in the coming weeks.

Tickets priced 30-55 are now available on ticketmaster.