By Scott Gilfoid: If there’s going to be a third fight between WBA Super World featherweight champion Leo Santa Cruz (33-1-1, 18 KOs) and former two division world champion Carl Frampton (23-1, 14 KOs) this year, then it might need to take place in Belfast, Northern Ireland.
That’s where the 29-year-old Frampton says he wants the fight to take place. Frampton lost to Santa Cruz last Saturday night by a 12 round majority decision at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada. The fight was scored 114-114, 115-113 and 115-113. The 29-year-old Frampton admits that he lost the fight, but he says that Santa Cruz stole a lot of rounds by him fighting hard in the last 15 seconds. Frampton saw that as a strategy.
In reality, Frampton blew his chances of winning many of the rounds by not standing his ground when Santa Cruz went after him to mix it up in the last 30 seconds of the round. Santa Cruz wasn’t trying to steal the rounds. He was trying to win them on effort. It was Frampton’s blunder to evade Santa Cruz by back peddling in the last moments of many of the rounds.
Frampton’s defensive moves might have played well if he were fighting in Belfast, but in Las Vegas, they expect you to put out some effort by actually fighting and not just trying to avoid shots. Frampton did a good job of dodging shots from Santa Cruz in the last 15 seconds of each round, but what he should have done was stand his ground and FIGHT. It was obvious that Frampton was going to lose the fight after the third round, because he was putting too much emphasis at not getting hit rather than on attacking Santa Cruz.
Frampton’s post-fight comments:
“It’s one all now. We have to make it a trilogy, and it has to happen again,” said Frampton at the post-fight press conference last Saturday night. “He surprised me his tactics today. Honestly, I didn’t believe he could box like he did. He was on the back foot a lot. I felt he did deserve the win. A couple of rounds were close. I felt I was doing better in some rounds. Leo used his experience and he stole them at the end with bursts in the last 15 seconds and stole the rounds. I believe he deserved to have his hand raised. I feel like I’ve gone to the States twice now, and Leo has said he would do it in Belfast the third time. I hope he’s a man of his word. After that, I’ll be happy to go to LA. Who knows? Three could be 3, 4, 5 [fights]. Let’s give the fans what they want. I want to fight Leo again straightaway. I won the first fight. He won the second fight. Let’s do it straightaway. I want to fight in Belfast next. That’s what I want to do. I feel like I’ve been on the road for two years now. I want to fight at home. Let’s get it right and settle the score with fight number 3. I’m a boxer. I prefer my opponents to come to me. It was a great game plan for Leo,” said Frampton.
Frampton should be blaming himself for not throwing enough punches to win the fight. He was outworked by the younger 28-year-old Santa Cruz, and that had nothing to do with him stealing rounds in the last 15 seconds. Santa Cruz was willing to put in the hard work by throwing punches, whereas Frampton was too focused on trying not to get hit.
The final punch stats showed that. Frampton landed 133 of 592 punches for a connect percentage of 22, according to CompuBox. Santa Cruz landed almost a hundred more punches in connecting on 230 of 884 punches for a connect percentage of 26. That’s Frampton’s mistake in not throwing more shots. If he had wanted to win the fight, he should have been on the attack, throwing shots rather than bellyaching afterwards about how Santa Cruz was stealing rounds with bursts of activity in the last 15 seconds of each round. That sounds to me like Frampton is making excuses for his own ineptitude. If you’re fighting someone in three minute rounds, you’re not supposed to stop fighting with 15 seconds to go. You’re supposed to fight for the entire three minutes.
It was Frampton’s mistake of thinking he could take it easy the last part of the round instead of continuing to fight hard. I don’t know who drummed it into Frampton’s head that he shouldn’t fight hard for the last 15 seconds, but he needs to be mindful in the future to put in some effort in the last part of each round by throwing some actual punches rather than just trying to elude his opponents by moving around, which is what Frampton was doing frequently. He was spoiling instead of trying to win.
Fighting in Belfast will make it difficult for Santa Cruz to win a decision. He says he’s going to talk to his manager about whether it’s doable or not to fight Frampton a third time. Santa Cruz says he wants to fight Frampton in a third fight, and he’s even willing to do it in Belfast.
Santa Cruz said this after the fight:
“This time I came with a good game plan,” said Santa Cruz. “If he wants, I’ll talk to my manager. If he wants to make it a trilogy, then let’s make it. I’m a man of man word. If we come to an agreement, I’ll be happy to make it a third fight. But there are many options out there too. A true champion will go anywhere. When I’m in the ring, it’s only me and Carl Frampton. I know the crowd will be for him. It’s going to be very hard, but if I go and beat him and they give the decision to him, I know the fans and everyone around the world would see it and see that I won it. But if he wins if fair and square, then I give it to him. Like I said, I’m willing to go over there. A true champion goes anywhere. They asked me about the body shots. I thought they were working good. I thought I hurt him a bit. He started going back. Carl Frampton is a tough man. He took it really well. When I saw that he was a little more tired, that’s when I went for it,” said Santa Cruz.
Santa Cruz is the A-side now for any rematch against Frampton. That means that Santa Cruz picks the location for the fight, not Frampton. If it were me, I would insist on the third fight taking place in Los Angeles, California. I’m just saying. The first fight was in New York in front of a large pro-Frampton crowd. While you can argue the fight was in the States, it might as well have been in Belfast, because the fans were supporting Frampton overwhelmingly. The second fight was in front of a mixed crowd of Frampton and Santa Cruz supporters last Saturday night in Las Vegas.
If the third fight takes place in Belfast like Frampton wants it to, then that would be the second time that Santa Cruz will have fought in front of a pro-Frampton crowd in their third fights. I don’t think that would be fair to Santa Cruz. To me, the third fight should take place in Los Angeles. After that fight, then the two should go ahead and meet for a fourth fight in Belfast. Why it’s important to fight in LA next is because it would give Santa Cruz a 2-1 edge in fighting in front of his own fans. If Santa Cruz then fights Frampton in Belfast for a fourth fight, then the two fighters would be at 2-2 in terms of fighting in front of their own boxing fans.