(Photo credit: Tom Casino/Showtime) By Scott Gilfoid: WBC super bantamweight champion Leo Santa Cruz (27-0-1, 15 KO’s) says he’ll be looking to fight a unification match against WBA World 122lb champion Scott Quigg (28-0-2, 21 KO’s) this Summer, and after that Santa Cruz wants to defend his title against #1 WBC, #2 IBF Carl Frampton (18-0, 13 KO’s) at the end of the year. Santa Cruz says he sees Frampton as the stronger guy between him and Quigg, but Frampton doesn’t have a title in his possession like Quigg, so he’s less important right now.
It makes a heck of a lot of sense for Santa Cruz to go after Quigg so that he can unify the titles before he takes the lesser fight against Frampton. That may be a big fight in Northern Ireland where Frampton is from, but in the U.S, a Frampton-Santa Cruz fight doesn’t mean much more than Santa Cruz’s previous title defenses against the likes of Cristian Mijares, Cesar Seada, Victor Terrazas, Alexander Munoz, Victor Zaleta and Eric Morel. You can make a strong argument that a Frampton vs. Santa Cruz fight means even less than any of those fights, because at least with those previous title defenses by Santa Cruz, there was some interest in those fights. A Frampton-Santa Cruz fight appeals strictly to the hardcore boxing fans in the U.S and that’s about it.
“Right now there is an opportunity to win another belt so hopefully we get that fight, get the win, unify the belts and then fight against Frampton,” Santa Cruz said to the Dailymail. “I think I will fight Scott Quigg before Carl Frampton, he has the belt and Frampton doesn’t have one right now. It’s a better opportunity against Scott. We are hoping to have that fight in July-August time and then by December we want to fight Frampton.”
Quigg is made to order for Santa Cruz because he comes straight at his opponents looking to slug. Santa Cruz will be able to take Quigg’s best shots and then bludgeon him into submission like he’s done with many of his past opponents.
As for Frampton, he can box or punch and he adapts to the guys he’s facing. In his fights against Kiko Martinez and Raul Hirales, Frampton had to back off and box when he felt the superior power from those two fighters. When he figured out early that he couldn’t stand in front of those guys due to their power, Frampton got on his bike and was more or less moving the entire fight. Against Santa Cruz, Frampton would have to move in order to keep from getting pounded into the canvas.
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