By Scott Gilfoid: #2 WBC Carl Frampton (17-0, 12 KO’s) will be fighting Hugo Cazares (40-7-2, 27 KO’s) in a WBC super bantamweight title final eliminator bout Odyssey Arena, Belfast, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom.
Frampton, 27, says he expects this fight to be a war, although I have my doubts that it’ll play out this way. Frampton is one of those type of fighters who is good at overpowering weak punchers with less power than him, but when he faces guys with more punching power than him, like in his fights against Kiko Martinez and Raul Hirales, he gets on his bike and moves the entire time.
The winner of this fight will become the mandatory challenger to WBC super bantamweight champion Leo Santa Cruz. He’s one of those types of fighters who you can’t beat even if you run from him, so I’m still not sure what Frampton will be able to do if he gets a fight against him, and that’s a big ‘if’. Frampton still has to get past Cazares on Friday night, and that’s one of those fights where either guy can win. I mean, if Cazares, 35, was a little big younger, I’d pick him to win this fight for sure. But he’s getting up there in age now, and he might be told enough for Frampton to win the fight.
“It’s going to be a war, it has to be war. Frampton has to come and fight in front of his home fans – I’m ready for the war because every day in Mexico is a war,” said Cazarez via the Belfast Telegraph.
Cazares has been in the ring with the likes of Ivan Calderon, Tomonobu Shimizu, Rey Perez, and Julio Cesar Miranda. It’s kind of surprising that with Cazares having been around for a million years that he hasn’t been in with a lot of well-known opponents. It kind of tells you a little about the divisions he’s fought in.
Cazares was a punching terror when he fought at light flyweight and super flyweight, but he’s not the same puncher now that he’s fighting at super bantamweight. That’s way above his old weight classes.
Frampton recently beat Jeremy Parodi by a 6th round knockout lost October. Parodi had a badly inflated resume filled with little known opposition, many with dreadful records.
I see the Frampton-Cazares fight as a tossup if Frampton stands and fights him. Cazares has big power and excellent skills. I think can definitely beat Frampton in a one-on-one brawl. But if Frampton runs from Cazares in the same way he did in his wins over Martinez and Hirales, then I can see Frampton winning an ugly fight.
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