By Scott Gilfoid: Carl Frampton (22-0, 14 KOs) will be moving up in weight this summer to challenge WBA featherweight champion Leo Santa Cruz (32-0-1, 18 KOs) in New York. Frampton, 28, will be moving up in weight from the 122lb division and will possibly be leaving his IBF belt behind for good depending on his success.
This could prove to a step too far for the tiny 5’5” Frampton, as he’ll be giving up two and a half inches in height and a whopping seven inches in reach to the taller 5’7 ½” Santa Cruz in this fight.
Frampton’s last opponent Scott Quigg, 5’8”, also had a considerable size advantage over Frampton, but he didn’t fight hard enough in the first six rounds to get the victory. It was a winnable fight for Quigg, but he chose to fight passively in the crucial first six rounds and basically gave the fight to Frampton.
Quigg ended up losing the fight by a 12 round split decision by the scores 116-112, 116-112 for Frampton and 115-113 for Quigg. Quigg suffered a broken jaw in the fight, and that injury is expected to keep him out of the ring a little while longer before he returns to action. Hopefully for Quigg’s fight, he learns a lesson from the fight that he must fight hard in EVERY round, not just for six rounds. Talk about your stupid fight strategies.
“The Jackal vs @leosantacruz2 for the WBA featherweight title in the big apple late summer! #AndTheNew #TwoWeightWorldChamp,” said Santa Cruz on his Twitter last Friday.
Frampton won the WBA 122lb title with his win over Quigg. However, after the World Boxing Association ordered Frampton to face the talented Cuban Guillermo Rigondeaux, Frampton thought better of the idea, and opted not to take the fight. He’s since been stripped of his WBA title. Frampton is supposed to defend his IBF 122lb strap against mandatory Shingo Wake. It’s unclear if he’ll take that fight or not.
If Frampton beats Santa Cruz, his next move will likely be a unification fight against IBF featherweight champion Lee Selby. That’ll be a tough fight for Frampton because of Selby’s height, reach and hit and move style of fighting. I can’t see Frampton winning. But then again, I can’t see Frampton beating Santa Cruz, so it’s almost pointless to discuss a future fight between Frampton and Selby until we find out what’s going to happen in the Santa Cruz-Frampton fight.
I do think Frampton will eventually face Selby even if he loses Santa Cruz, but I think the fight won’t take place until 2017. Frampton struggled to make super bantamweight for his last fight. I think it’s clear that it’s time for Frampton to move up in weight to featherweight permanently for better or for worse. It’ll likely be for worse, but what can you do when you can no longer comfortably make a weight class any longer.
We’ll still be seeing Frampton and Quigg face each other in a rematch at some point in time. There’s too much money for them not to fight each other a second time. I think Quigg will beat Frampton handily in the rematch. Quigg knows what he did wrong, and he’ll follow the Santa Cruz blueprint that he’ll be creating in how to beat Frampton.