By Scott Gilfoid: #2 WBC, Carl Frampton (17-0, 12 KO’s) will be facing #1 WBC, Hugo Fidel Cazares (40-7-2, 27 KO’s) in a fight on April 4th at the Odyssey Arena, in Belfast, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom. The fight will be staged in Frampton’s home country, even though Cazares is ranked above him at #1. If I were Cazares, I’d have preferred the fight be staged on neutral turf, because the last thing he needs is stuck on the losing end of a controversial decision. I mean, I doubt Frampton will bother giving Cazares a rematch if it’s a controversial decision, and that would leave the 35-year-old Cazares high and dry.
Frampton, 26, is hoping that a win over the former two-division world champion Cazares will put him in position to face WBC super bantamweight champion Leo Santa Cruz in the 2nd half of 2014. I suspect Frampton will get his fight against Santa Cruz this year, but I don’t see it going well for Frampton. Santa Cruz is too powerful, too relentless and too talented for him.
Still, it’ll be interesting to see how that fight goes. Frampton will likely put his track shoes on and run around the ring for 12 rounds like he did in his fight against Kiko Martinez. Initially, Frampton will try and trade with Santa Cruz to test whether he can stand up to his power, but as soon as he realizes that he can stay in the pocket against the talented Mexican, Frampton will be off to the faces for the next 11 rounds and hoping he can win a decision somehow.
Cazares, 5’4″, is a decent fighter with a good resume. However, he’s definitely not the fighter that he was earlier in his career when he was facing the likes of Ivan Calderon and losing to him over and over again. Cazares was a huge puncher when he fought at light flyweight many years ago, but at super bantamweight, he’s just an aging fighter who’s power didn’t carry up with him when he moved up in weight.
Cazares has won his last five fights since his 12 round decision loss to Tomonobu Shimizu in 2011. Cazares has since beaten Adan Garcia, Daniel Diaz, Rey Perez, Gabriel Altarejos and Julio Cesar Miranda. Those are decent fighters, and it shows that Cazares still has a little left in the tank despite his advanced age.
As for Frampton, he’s beaten Jeremy Parodi, Kiko Martinez, Steve Molitor and Raul Hirales in his last four fights. What we’ve learned from watching those fights is that Frampton isn’t a big puncher like some thought he was earlier in his career. Martinez and Hirales were clearly stronger than him. Frampton is more like a new version of Steve Molitor. In other words, a guy that moves a lot and tries to out-box his stronger opponents. Once Frampton faces Santa Cruz, he’ll be pretty much exposed and lose for the first time. I suspect it’ll be downhill for Frampton from that point on.
Cazares has the power to give Frampton a ton of problems if Frampton doesn’t run from him like he did against Kiko Martinez. If he tries to stand and trade with Cazares, then this could go really badly for Frampton.
Comments are closed.