AS soon as Scott Quigg landed in Los Angeles last week, he went straight to the Wild Card boxing club in Los Angeles to check his schedule with trainer Freddie Roach and prepare for his March 10 clash with WBO featherweight champion Oscar Valdez at the StubHub Center in Carson. Quigg spoke exclusively to Boxing News.
You’ve come straight to the gym?
It took a while to get here… Straight to the gym, a good little workout and then come down here to sort the routine out with Freddie.
What’s the sparring like at the Wild Card?
It’s intense. That’s one of the good qualities of being out here. Obviously you don’t want this sort of sparring all year round, week in, week out but when you’re in training camp this is all quality and it’s all intense sparring. Sometimes back home you can get in sparring and if you’re not feeling it you can get away with it. Over here if you’re not switched on, with the intensity, you make a mistake, you get punished.
When you decided to leave Joe Gallagher’s gym and come over here, how did you make the decision?
You’ve got one shot at this. The more you sit and stew, you start overthinking. Once time goes, you can’t get it back. I made the decision, I felt like I needed a change. Me and Joe are still good friends. I spoke to him before I came out here. He sent me a message wishing me all the best.
I’ve had 37 fights now, my style is my style. Coming out here, the tools that I do have, I’m being shown how to use them. Little subtle adjustments and things Freddie’s got from his knowledge and experience, he’s passing on to me and I feel like I’m improving.
What do you learn from the other fighters?
Last camp I was training alongside Miguel Cotto. You can’t buy that. Being in his company, being around him, you’re learning so much. The advice and the tips he’s passing on. You can’t buy that. That was through coming out here.
What kind of tips did he give you?
He was watching me sparring, watching me doing the pads. Little, subtle things, it might be a step across or just how to get out of trouble. Don’t get back yourself into a corner, or if you back into a corner, you’re setting a trap. They’re small but they’re so effective.
How much are you looking forward to another world title fight?
It’s a great opportunity. You know what I respect Valdez, I respect his trainer, Manny Robles. They’re good people, they train hard. We both shared the ring together in early April last year. We were both preparing for fights. Very polite, very nice people, very respectful. I’m here to fight the best. He didn’t have to pick me.
He could have picked an easier fight. But they want to test themselves. He wants to be a great fighter and you’ve got to be in great fights. I believe I’m one of the best in the division and I believe I’m more than capable of getting the job done.
I’ve got to be switched on but I believe we’ll both meet in the middle of the ring.
Is there anything you took away from sparring him?
Sparring is sparring but I do take confidence from it. It got me ready for the fight. It’s not going to be an easy fight. It brings dangers but I also feel like I can capitalise and exploit a lot of mistakes he makes.
He is a very good fighter. He’s hardly put a foot wrong. In his last fight he got put down, that’s about it. He’s training for this out in Mexico so he’s taking this very seriously.
He knows that he’s got a tough fight on his hands. I know I’ve got a tough fight on my hands.
Do you have regrets from the Carl Frampton fight?
I can’t say I regret anything. No one trains harder than me but the gameplan was wrong. You’ve just got to learn from it. If you’ve got any regrets from it, you’re not going to get over it. And I couldn’t put anymore into camp. I trained my heart out. The only thing is, the early rounds we got the tactics wrong. If I’d employed the same tactics in the second half of the fight in the first half of the fight, I would have won the fight.
Credit to him. He did what he had to do on the night. You learn from it. But now I’m getting criticised for starting too quit so you never win… Anybody who criticises you means they’ve watched you, looked at you. They’ve studied you. Sometimes they might be talking nonsense, sometimes they might be right.
What did you think of Frampton’s last fight?
In the first three rounds he was effective because he was landing some power shots. The kid he fought [Horacio Garcia] had a world class work rate and world class chin. Other than that he was very basic.
But again it was his first fight with [trainer] Jamie Moore, it was his first fight in a long time. Maybe he needs to get his rhythm back. He’s got to perform better against [Nonito] Donaire than in his last fight. And he knows that, he’s obviously not daft. It was a good win, it was a good exciting fight. But there were mistakes being made.
