Carl Frampton v Scott Quigg. Who wins the battle of Britain?

On February 27th, a unique and rare occasion will bestow itself upon the British public. Two undefeated fighters, from rival home nations will put their world title belts on the line and clash head on in the boxing ring.

Not since the day of Benn, Eubank, and Watson have we had such a unique situation, but this occasion is even more unique if you add the Anglo-Irish rivalry to the equation.

28-year-old Carl Frampton is the slick Irish boxer, with 21 wins, 14 by knockout and will be defending his IBF Super Bantamweight belt.

27-year-old Scott Quigg is tough, English puncher with 31 wins, 23 by knockout, 2 draws and will be defending his WBA Super Bantamweight belt.

Though Quigg has the slight edge on experience and number of fights. I would say Frampton has the slight edge in quality of opponents faced. But either edge is not enough to gain a clear advantage.

In terms of keys for the fight I feel Frampton will really have to use that slick movement and boxing skills to keep Quigg off balanced. His jab will be extremely important in order to set up his accurate shots, but more importantly, keep Quigg from setting himself for his power punches.

Quigg who has power in both hands will need to use his strength to drag Frampton into a dog fight. More importantly, he will need to do this to set up his devastating body shots which would be key to slow Frampton down, limit his footwork and keep him stationary.

With all that being said, both fighters can do the opposite. Frampton can mix it and brawl if he needs to and Quigg can pick his shots and be accurate at times.

I will probably give the slight advantage to Quigg when it comes to power .

If this is the case, it will be important for Frampton stay active with his jab, to irritate Quigg, keep him guessing, disoriented and not allow him to build up a head of steam to load up on punches or pin him to the ropes.

Quigg will need to not allow Frampton to get into a rhythm and pot shot from a distance. He will need to close the gap, use his strength and power to pressure Frampton, keep him uncomfortable and fighting for the whole 3 minutes of the round.

Both fighters have demonstrated some top quality inside the ring but both have also shown vulnerabilities that can be exploited, which makes the bout even more intriguing.

To top it off, there have been criticism labelled at both fighters with claims they both ducked former WBO & WBA Super Bantamweight title holder Guillermo Rigondeaux.

The Cuban who is a two-time Olympic champion and widely regarded as one of the top pound for pound fighters today, was stripped of both titles due to fight inactivity.

Since Rigondeaux added the WBO title to his WBA belt with a convincing and dominant unanimous point victory over Nonito Donaire, in April 2013. He has only had three defences and had not fought at all in 2015. Rigondeaux’s camp puts this down to difficulty in securing fights as nobody wants to fight him. I must say I can see why as he’s class. The Cuban has often been labelled as one of the most avoided fighters in boxing.

With that being said. The talk is the winner of Frampton v Quigg will fight Rigondeaux next for a huge Super Bantamweight fight to see who’s the king at the weight class.

That fight is down the line. But it is a huge carrot and incentive for the British fighters and yet another thing to add to the equation for this unique, local battle that is sure to capture and nation in the months ahead.

Both fighters have shown a lot of respect to the other. But as the weeks and months go by and the fight draws closer, you can already tell, due to a few words that’s been said here and there, this rivalry will gradually build and became as much of a battle outside the ring, as it will be inside it.

All I can say is strap your seat belts on and enjoy. As I cannot see this fight being anything other than an exciting, tense, thrilling, back and forth, all out war. Who wins?