This weekend Scott Quigg gets his chance to become a two-weight world champion when he challenges the unbeaten WBO champion, Oscar Valdez. Despite the odds strongly being in favour of Valdez retaining his title, Freddie Roach is confident his man Quigg can spring the surprise and even knock out the reigning champion.
Quigg will be hoping a win will then set up him for some very big fights in what is currently a red-hot division both in the UK and globally. A rematch with Carl Frampton would be high on his list for sure, where Quigg would look for revenge for his previous loss to the Irishman, but Frampton looks set to face the winner of Lee Selby and Josh Warrington, so any rematch would be towards the end of the year.
Outside of the UK domestic scene, there are some real quality operators like Leo Santa Cruz and Gary Russell Jr, who sit high at the top of the latest Boxing Monthly rankings, plus the WBA champion Abner Mares to add even more depth to the featherweight ranks. Not on the list is another UK fighter Kid Galahad who improved his record to 24-0 when he won on the Brook v Rabchenko bill this past weekend, as the year progresses he will be looking for the big fights also.
The featherweight division is often overlooked but there are plenty of very tasty fights to be made if boxing politics don’t get in the way of course. Overall 2018 looks to be a very good year indeed for the featherweight division.
BOXING MONTHLY FEATHERWEIGHT RANKINGS:
1: Leo Santa Cruz (US), 34-1-1, WBA-Super
2: Carl Frampton, (GB), 24-1
3: Gary Russell Jr (US), 28-1, WBC
4: Lee Selby (GB), 26-1, IBF
5: Oscar Valdez (Mexico), 23-0, WBO
6: Abner Mares (US), 31-2-1, WBA
7: Scott Quigg (GB), 34-1-2
8: Josh Warrington (GB), 26-0
9: Joseph Diaz (US), 25-0
10: Jesus M. Rojas (Puerto Rico), 26-1-2 (1NC)
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