THE winner of the super-bantamweight unification clash between Carl Frampton and Scott Quigg on February 27 must fight Guillermo Rigondeaux on or before July 27.
The pair will meet at a sold out Manchester Arena with Frampton’s IBF belt andd Quigg’s WBA ‘super’ title both on the line.
Quigg was originally the WBA’s ‘regular’ champion while Rigondeaux held the ‘super’ version, but the sanctioning body demoted the Cuban to ‘champion in recess’ due to not defending his title enough, in accordance with their rules.
Quigg was subsequently promoted to ‘super’ champion, allowing the unification fight with Frampton to take place.
The WBA has since announced that whomever prevails on February 27 must defend their titles against Rigondeaux. Should Frampton and Quigg fight to a draw, Scott would retain his title and must still face Guillermo by July 27.
The WBA also outlined what the split would be should negotiations between the Frampton/Quigg winner and Rigondeaux go to purse bids – 55/45 in favour of Rigondeaux.
The IBF have also ordered the winner of the Frampton-Quigg fight to face their number one challenger within 90 days. Japan’s Shingo Wake currently sits in that position.
Depending on scheduling, these orders mean that whoever unifies the IBF and WBA titles in Manchester may have to give one of them up.
