By Scott Gilfoid: In a sign of what could be trouble, former two division world champion Carl “The Jackal” Frampton (23-1, 14 KOs) is saying that his next fight will absolutely be in his home city of Belfast, Northern Ireland. That’s bad news for the boxing fans that were hoping to see a third fight between Frampton and Santa Cruz, because it’s never a good sign with the loser of a fight suddenly believes that he can call the short.
The last time I checked, Frampton lost the fight to Santa Cruz in their rematch last month on January 28 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada. Granted, the scoring by the three judges was absolutely dreadful in my opinion, but they at least got the scoring right, which is more than I can say about the scoring for the first fight between Santa Cruz and Frampton last July.
I had Santa Cruz winning that fight by a narrow decision after Frampton faded badly in the last seven rounds. For the rematch on January 28 last month, Santa Cruz won the fight by the scores 115-113, 115-113 and 114-114. I had the fight scored 10 rounds to 2 in favor of Santa Cruz. In watching the fight the second time with the sound turned off, I scored it 8 rounds to 4 for Santa Cruz.
Three of the rounds I gave Frampton were ones that I thought Santa Cruz won, but I figured that the judges would give all the close rounds to Frampton due to him being the A-side in the fight. Frampton was technically the WBA champion going into the fight. I didn’t see him as the champion, but I’m sure the judges did. As such, the close rounds obviously went to Frampton. It’s kind of sad when all the close rounds go to one fighter rather than a mix between them.
“I tried to watch the fight with Leo Santa Cruz again but only got two rounds in when I had to turn it off,” Frampton said via The Belfast Telegraph. “It was too raw for me – it was just too annoying. I’ll let things settle down before I watch the whole fight…..I don’t know when I’ll be able to watch it again. My team are now working on the third fight, they’re in negotiations and whatever happens my next fight will be in Belfast. I’ve been on the road a long time and my fans deserve the chance to see me fight at home.”
Well, Frampton does sound like he’s justified in saying that the third fight should be in Belfast. I don’t see why Santa Cruz and his manager Al Haymon should even consider having the third fight in Belfast. I mean, the first fight was in front of Frampton’s fans in New York. That wasn’t an advantage to Santa Cruz.
You can argue that having the fight in New York was the equivalent of staging the fight in Northern Ireland, because Frampton had the fans firmly on his side for the entire fight. When Santa Cruz was booed loudly as he walked into the ring for that fight in New York, you knew what he was up against. The rematch was in Las Vegas, which was more a case of the fans being split down the middle.
Santa Cruz isn’t from Nevada, and the overwhelming amount of his fans isn’t from there either. Santa Cruz was brought up in Southern California. For him to fight in front of his own fans, the third fight against Frampton would need to be staged in Los Angeles. Right now, Frampton is ahead 1-0 with him fighting in front of his fans in New York. As I mentioned, their rematch in Las Vegas was in front of a mixed crowd of Santa Cruz and Frampton fans. Neither fighter had an advantage in terms of crowd in my view. So it’s only fair that the third fight be staged in Los Angeles so that Santa Cruz can fight in front of his own fans for a change.
Honestly, I don’t think Santa Cruz would have won the second fight if it had taken place in Belfast. In fact, I think Santa Cruz would have lost a lopsided decision with the judges giving almost every round to Frampton. As it was, Santa Cruz barely beat Frampton with three judges that were assigned to the second fight.
I thought the scoring by those judges was absolutely terrible, and far worse than the scoring by the set of judges in the first fight. Santa Cruz should have beaten Frampton by at least an 8 rounds to 4 score in my view. Scoring the fight 114-114, 115-113 and 115-113 for Santa Cruz was way too generous to Frampton. The fight wasn’t that close. Santa Cruz was boxing Frampton’s head off most of the fight.
In the last three rounds, Frampton took the fight to the inside to try and rally. I thought Santa Cruz still got the better of Frampton in the last four rounds, but it was closer rounds. Frampton smothered his own work by staying on the inside and trying to beat Santa Cruz with in fighting tactics. There was nothing else that Frampton could do though, because he was so desperate.
It’s interesting that Frampton can’t get himself to watch the second fight. That tells you that he knows he was beaten by Santa Cruz. It also tells you that the judges’ scoring for the fight was horrible. Man, they scored that fight WAY too close. With that kind of scoring, I think it’s a bad idea for Santa Cruz to agree to fight the third fight in Belfast. He was already arguably robbed in the first fight in New York.
Why would Santa Cruz want to put himself in position where he could be on the receiving end of another controversial decision in front of Frampton’s boxing fans? What I see happening is Frampton being given another controversial decision. After he wins that fight, Frampton isn’t going to admit that the judges got it wrong. He’s likely going to say, ‘Well, I beat Santa Cruz for the second time now. I’m better than him, so I’m moving on to fight Lee Selby now. I’m done with Santa Cruz.’ That’s what I see happening. Santa Cruz will be stuck having to live with his controversial decision loss without him being able to avenge it by fighting Frampton in Los Angeles, which is where the third fight SHOULD be taking place.
I hope Haymon talks some sense to Santa Cruz and tells him that it’s not smart to fight Frampton in front of his own fans in Belfast.
Heck, Santa Cruz already made a huge blunder by agreeing to fight Frampton in New York for the first fight last July. I mean, I don’t know how Santa Cruz and his management didn’t realize that they had given away the fight by agreeing to fight in New York. As soon I heard the news that Santa Cruz had agreed to fight Frampton in New York, I knew he was going to lose that fight. I knew that the crowd would be totally in Frampton’s favor.
I’ve been to New York and I knew what Santa Cruz was up against. His fans were in Los Angeles, and Frampton’s fans were in New York. Now why would Santa Cruz want to give Frampton a second advantage by agreeing to fight in Belfast? I think that would be a HUGE mistake on Santa Cruz’s part and I would never agree to let any fighter in my stable to make such a bad move. If Santa Cruz is going to fight Frampton in Europe, then it should be in a neutral country like Germany, Russia, Ukraine, Romania, Poland, Denmark, Sweden, Italy, Italy, Spain or Austria. Having the third fight in one of those countries would be fair. Neither fighter would have an advantage over the other.