He might have proved he can pull a rabbit out of a hat Paul Daniels style over the years, but Joe Gallagher is no boxing Svengali, claims Barry McGuigan.

In what has turned out to be an interesting sub plot to a bout that has had as many rounds of verbal sparring as Carl Frampton and Scott Quigg have had ring sparring in their pre fight camps, Joe Gallagher and Shane McGuigan have traded verbal combinations rather than just words.

Team Quigg have certainly made it their business to try and unsettle Carl Frampton and the team around him in recent weeks and while Frampton’s young coach Shane McGuigan has countered on occasion the majority of comments have come from the Bury camp.

Irish fight legend and Cyclone Promotions CEO Barry McGuigan believes such an approach has potential ‘to drag this fight down’ and hit back at Gallagher.

The former featherweight champion of the World is also keen point out that mind games, which he believes Gallagher, who was last week honoured by the Sligo County Council, isn’t a master of, have not had any affect on IBF World champion Frampton in the lead up to the fight.

Speaking to Kevin Mitchell in the Gaurdian, McGuigan said,

“It’s unhealthy to drag this fight down by swiping at each other and making stupid comments; saying you didn’t train this fella or that fella.”

“It’s all irrelevant. All the hot air means nothing. We’re now in fight mode. The good thing is Carl has handled situations like this before, when all the attention has been on him: big fights, big crowds, packing out arenas, being the main fighter. ”

“It won’t make any difference to us. It will be interesting to see how they are. For both Gallagher and him it’s a big occasion. Gallagher thinks he’s some sort of svengali, that’s able to put a spell on us. For God’s sake: it’s just a fight. It’s not complicated.”