By Scott Gilfoid: Former three division world champion Leo Santa Cruz plans on whipping WBA Super World featherweight champion Carl Frampton this Saturday night at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Santa Cruz, 28, says he’ll happily give Frampton (23-0, 14 KOs) a rematch for a third fight between them. Santa Cruz (32-1-1, 18 KOs) likes the idea of facing Frampton a third time so the two of them can prove who the better fighter is.
I’m not sure that Frampton will be too eager for a third consecutive fight against the talented Santa Cruz, who looks younger than him and fights with a higher work rate. Frampton is interested in fighting IBF featherweight champion Lee Selby in a unification fight in Northern Ireland. Obviously, it wouldn’t be a unification fight between the two UK fighters if Frampton gets battered and beaten by Santa Cruz. But it’s still possible for Frampton to fight Selby for his IBF title. Frampton would be the challenger in that case. The cash for the fight might not be nearly as good for Frampton.
“We want a trilogy. If I get the win, I will happily give him a third fight and make this a great rivalry that goes back-and-forth,” said Santa Cruz.
I hate to say it, but Frampton may have no other choice but to fight Santa Cruz a third time. If Frampton moves on with his boxing career without his WBA title, he’s going to be negotiating in a position of weakness with Selby. A lot of fans already think Frampton should have lost to Santa Cruz the last time they fought each other last year. Santa Cruz was the better fighter from round 5 to 12. Frampton build up an early lead through 4 rounds.
Once Santa Cruz started pressuring Frampton, he wilted just like he did in the second half of his fight against Scott Quigg. The stamina just isn’t there with Frampton. He gets tired and he stays tired when pressured. I thought Quigg was robbed last year. I also think Frampton didn’t deserve the Fighter of the Year for 2016. If I had been the one that picked out the recipient for that distinguished award, I would have selected Vasyl Lomachenko. None of his wins were controversial in 2016. He knocked out Nicholas Walters and Roman Martinez. In contrast, both of Frampton’s wins were controversial over Santa Cruz and Quigg. Frampton won the award based on him being the better fighter in rounds 1-4 against those guys.
“I think I’m going to get another win,” said Frampton. “Going into this fight, I have the psychological edge. I want to prove that the first fight wasn’t a fluke and that I’m a better fighter. I’m going to show that the awards I picked up last year are justified,” said Frampton.
I’m sorry, but the awards Frampton got were not justified in my view. I think he lost both fights to Quigg and Santa Cruz, and showed no improvement with his dreadful stamina.