By Keith Idec

Potential opponents ordinarily want to face the winners of high-profile fights.

Not Michael Conlan.

The Irish featherweight contender wants Carl Frampton to defeat Josh Warrington on Saturday night. Frampton and Conlan have become close friends, though, so close that they’ve agreed not to fight each other.

Warrington, however, would be just the type of accomplished, experienced opponent Conlan wants to fight in 2019.

“Whether he wins or loses,” Conlan told BoxingScene.com, “that’s a good fight because he’s still young, he’s a great champion already and there is a possibility [if he loses to Frampton], he could win another world championship. I do believe he has the ability to do so, so it’s definitely an opponent I want.”

England’s Warrington will defend his IBF featherweight title against Northern Ireland’s Frampton in Manchester, England. The 28-year-old Warrington won that championship in his last fight – a split-decision defeat of Wales’ Lee Selby on May 19 in Leeds, Warrington’s hometown.

Conlan considers Frampton (26-1, 15 KOs) a much bigger puncher than Selby (26-2, 9 KOs). The 2016 Olympian expects that advantage to become an important factor in his fight with Warrington (27-0, 6 KOs).

Conlan predicted Frampton will win, “because he’s a more well-rounded fighter, and also because he carries the power. When Warrington fought Selby, he kind of was able to walk through him because Selby is not the biggest of punchers. I don’t think he can afford to do that with Carl Frampton because Frampton can punch. That will probably be the story of the fight, I think.

“If Josh tries to come at Carl, Carl has the power to make him respect him, where he can’t come forward. And I think if he does commit, in the end I think he’ll start to get a bit rattled. And that’s why I think Carl can win by late stoppage.”

The 27-year-old Conlan (9-0, 6 KOs) is scheduled to encounter England’s Jason Cunningham (24-5, 6 KOs) in a 10-rounder on the Warrington-Frampton undercard.

The Warrington-Frampton card will be streamed live in the United States by ESPN+, beginning at 1 p.m. ET/10 a.m. PT. Warrington-Frampton will be the main event of a BT Sport Box Office pay-per-view event in the United Kingdom (£19.95; 6 p.m. GMT).

Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.