Jamie Moore reckons he has saved Irish hero Carl Frampton from possible burn out.
Frampton has his first fight under Moore and new promoter Frank Warren in Belfast on Saturday night, a 10 rounder against hard Mexican Horacio Garcia, screened live on BT Sport.
Framptonâs split from the McGuigans came as a surprise after winning world super-bantamweight and featherweight titles with them, but his new trainer believes the move away from them will prolong the 30 year oldâs career.
Frampton has hinted in interviews that he was concerned about wear and tear â and that may have been a reason behind him leaving the McGuigans.
âCarl was training hard all the time,â said Moore, âand thatâs crazy.
âBy the time youâre 30, you donât want to be taking loads of punches and thatâs what happens when you spar 12 hard rounds every other day.
âThat will have a negative effect.
âWe have been training smarter, making the sparring quality rather than quantity, and Carl says he feels much fresher than he has for a couple of years.
âHe has flown through the camp and looks as sharp as a razor.â
Sparring partners at Mooreâs gym have included former Commonwealth featherweight champion Isaac Lowe.
Moore, a former British, Commonwealth and European super-welterweight champion who gave his all throughout his 37-fight career, admits even he was shocked to get the call to train Frampton.
âYou expect him to go to someone with masses of experience,â said Moore, âbut every trainer gets a break sometime and maybe this is mine.
âI have got big fight experience. I was in the corner with Amir Khan early in his career (when he was trained by Oliver Harrison) and Iâve been there with Martin Murray and Matthew Macklin in Atlantic City as well.
âCarl came to the gym for a trial for a couple of days, he liked my way of training and we clicked.
âThereâs a good buzz in the gym and that can make a good fighter perform better as well.â
Moore describes training Frampton as âprobably the easiest job in boxing.â
He explained: âItâs not like I have to teach him a lot. Carl has all the attributes and follows instructions well.
âThere arenât really any weaknesses and Iâm just trying to make sure he avoids certain situations in fights.â
Frampton has been out of the ring since the defeat to Leo Santa Cruz in their rematch in January and Moore says heâs matched tough in his comeback fight.
âThere were easier opponents out there for him,â said Moore of 27 year old Garcia.
The Mexican has yet to be stopped in a 33-3-1 career and showed his stubborn streak when lasting the distance with razor-sharp left hander Joseph âJo Joâ Diaz last December.
Diaz won every round on the cards and Garcia was also soundly outpointed by Japanese veteran Hozumi Hasegawa in another venture into world class.
âEvery time he has stepped up, he has got beaten,â said Moore, âbut heâs still tough.
âCarl has been out for a while and he isnât an easy guy to come back against. If Carl gets him out of there, it will be a very, very good performance, but I donât expect him to. I want him to get good rounds under his belt and build towards big fights next year.â
Frampton has said that providing all goes well this weekend, he wants âone of the big boys nextâ and Santa Cruz is obviously his preferred opponent.
Frampton outpointed him on a majority points vote in 2016 to become a two-weight world champion and six months later, the majority verdict went Santa Cruzâs way.
Other options for Frampton include the winner of Lee Selby-Josh Warrington and possibly Oscar Valdez, who holds the WBO belt.
Thereâs a chance he could fight at Windsor Park next year and Moore said: âWe are hoping to get (Leo) Santa Cruz over early next year and (Abner) Mares has mentioned fighting Carl.
âCarl doesnât want to be treading water at this stage of his career. These are the big fights he wants to get his juices flowing.â
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