Scott Quigg heads west and into stable of renowned trainer Freddie Roach | Kevin Mitchell

Scott Quigg has split with Joe Gallagher after six years to join Freddie Roach in the US. It is a gamble that could launch him into a rematch with Carl Frampton or put him into the mix at featherweight, a division that is brimming with possibilities.

The 28-year-old former world super-bantamweight champion, now making noises at 9st, insisted on Monday the parting was amicable, although only those close to the camp saw it coming.

“We have been a great team and achieved a lot and had some great wins together,” Quigg said. “I have moved up to featherweight [since December, when he stopped Jose Cayetano in nine rounds in Manchester] with the goal of becoming a two-weight world champion. I believe I need a fresh challenge to help me grow. Over the last few weeks I’ve been in America training and I’m delighted to announce I will be basing myself in Los Angeles at the Wild Card gym.”

Quigg, one of the straightest shooters in the fight game, added: “This is an opportunity that I couldn’t pass up and I believe this move and change will take me to another level. I’d like to thank Joe for everything he has done for me; he is a tremendous coach and friend, which we will remain. Our first fight together was for the British title and I went on to become world champion under his guidance and for that I will be forever grateful. I wish Joe and all the lads every success in the future.”

Roach is busy getting Manny Pacquiao ready for what might be his farewell ring appearance, against the former schoolteacher Jeff Horn on 23 April, possibly now in the United Arab Emirates rather than Horn’s home city of Brisbane.

Quigg will hope he can fill the void that Pacquiao leaves when he eventually walks away from boxing to chase his dream of becoming president of the Philippines. Can Roach make Quigg a champion at feather? Certainly they share the same attacking instincts.

One way to find out is to pitch him in against Frampton, who snapped the Bury fighter’s unbeaten run in February last year and gave up his own unblemished record when Leo Santa Cruz took his WBA 9st title off him on points in Las Vegas last month.

The Irishman, who beat Santa Cruz in New York last July, wants a rubber match, although he will have to travel to secure it. No way is the American going to defend in Belfast – unless the McGuigan camp pay him a fortune.

Another contender enters the Lions den

“I was only 18 when I sparred AJ,” the 19-year-old South London heavyweight Daniel Dubois told the fight-writer Glyn Evans this week without a hint of irony about sharing a ring with the world champion, Anthony Joshua.

But Dubois, a decorated amateur who makes his professional debut in Manchester on 8 April, sounds like the sort of young athlete who will emulate Joshua in demeanour at least. Social media rumours had him doing pretty well against Joshua, but he would only say, “I enjoyed some successes up in Sheffield. Given he’d been Olympic champion, that gave me a bit more confidence.”

They have sparred several times, and Dubois concedes, “He’s just a massive man, very strong, So I really needed my wits about me. In my view he’s number one in the world.” Dubois, the current British amateur champion who won 75 of 81 unpaid bouts, is turning over at an interesting time. If he takes his time, he could be well placed to challenge for honours in a couple of years time.

He’s held his own in sparring with Dereck Chisora as well as amateurs such as Joe Joyce and Frazer Clarke, although any talk of his breaking through in the pros before properly learning his trade is ludicrous. He says his father has promised to take him to work out at Floyd Mayweather’s Las Vegas gym later in the year, and that is a good path for a young heavyweight to take. There will be no shortage of quality sparring there.

Born in Paddington and raised in Greenwich – David Haye country – Daniel has 10 siblings and is his father’s eldest child from his second marriage. He says he got a few GCSEs, briefly was a long jumper and threw the javelin for South London Harriers, but boxing is his obsession.

He decided to turn pro when it became obvious that, although Olympic silver medallist Joyce is sure to leave the amateurs, Clarke – leading the British Lionhearts against the France Fighting Roosters in Paris on Thursday – is being groomed to take that glamour spot.

Dubois who is proud of his athleticism and boxing skills, grew slowly into his heavyweight frame, but is renowned around the gyms as a bringing weight to his jab, body shots and a big right hand. Allowing himself a momentary boast, he says: “Ask AJ if I can punch.”

Frank Warren has promised him six fights a year. Dubois is worth watching.

Michael Watson knocks down the vigilantes

Instant and understandable anger spread throughout the boxing community when news emerged that the much-loved former world title challenger Michael Watson, disabled since his fight with Chris Eubank in 1991, and his minder, Lenny Ballack, were attacked in a suspected car-jacking in Chingford in Essex.

It was, said Watson, “a very frightening, violent situation which came out of the blue”. Ballack was sprayed and blinded when he attempted to talk to the driver of a white Mercedes that had bumped his car at traffic lights at about 5pm on Thursday. As Ballack lay on the ground, the attackers took control of the car he had been driving and Watson was dragged more than 500 yards along the street hanging from the vehicle as he attempted to free himself from a seatbelt in the back seat.

But the wildfire reaction across social media quickly got out of hand.

There was over-the-top talk by people in the sport who should know better of seeking out the attackers and administering their own justice.

As the ever-kindly Watson pointed out: “I’m asking you to help the police in finding these men and bring them to justice.”

There is no place for vigilantes in boxing or anywhere else in society, a truth Watson was quick to remind some of his many friends.