BOXING can be a frustrating spectator sport.

No matter how much fans want to see the best two boxers in the ring, it very rarely happens.

There are so many belts available that you can call yourself a world champion without ever having to meet the top fighters in your division.

"Champions" often seem to talk up a big match against one of their rivals, before plucking out an obscure challenger and selling them as a very useful unknown to pull in the crowds.

Thankfully for fight fans, it looks as if Bury super-bantamweight champion Scott Quigg will soon get his wish to do battle with Ireland’s IBF title holder Carl Frampton, after neither boxer was able to set up a bigger purse Stateside.

In most other sporting arenas, this kind of ducking and diving would not be tolerated.

Seeding helps to ensure there is an inevitable climax.

Unfancied names have been known to sneak through to finals at Wimbledon, the Crucible and the Ally Pally.

But generally the main contenders are whittled down until only the very best survive.

The Champions League format is a good example.

It was designed to iron out the European Cup, stopping minnows like Red Star Belgrade and Malmo from reaching the showpiece final.

Athletes are the only other sporting animal who come close to boxers when it comes to shying away from a showdown.

The best sprinters seem to come down with convenient illnesses and injuries during the Grand Prix season to avoid being shown up by a rival in better form.

But there is no avoiding the blue riband event when the Olympics or World Championships come around.

At some point the track speed merchants know they will have to be measured against Usain Bolt – and be found wanting.

That fear of losing their standing is more of a financial concern in boxing.

Athletes will always find a place to run, but it can be almost impossible for a former world champion boxer to find someone to fight.

Why take on someone good enough to once be called the world’s best and risk being knocked off your perch?

But sometimes it reaches a point where the inevitable has to happen and what has become known as a “super fight” takes place.

Even when the protagonists are not the world’s best, if they can capture the public’s imagination then the billing is set.

And the strange thing about boxing is that once the greats do finally go head-to-head, it is as if the floodgates open – they go on to fight each other again, and again.

So I would not be surprised if a rematch is already fixed for Quigg and Frampton – expect part one to take place in the UK, probably Manchester, before a rematch in Belfast.