By Scott Gilfoid: Carl Frampton seems to be coming to his senses that the best thing he can do is give an immediate rematch with former World Boxing Association featherweight champion Leo Santa Cruz (32-1-1, 18 KOs) so that he can clear up the controversy that has spilled over from his highly questionable win over the talented Mexican American on July 30.
Frampton won the fight by a 12 round majority decision by the scores of 114-114, 117-111 and 116-112. However, the decision by the judges seems to run counter to the views of many boxing fans who saw the same fight, as many of them felt that Frampton didn’t do enough to deserve the win, and he certainly didn’t do enough to win the contest by the scores 117-111 and 116-112.
You have to give Santa Cruz a huge edge in the rematch with Frampton because he knows how to beat him now. There’s nothing new that Frampton can do to get the better of Santa Cruz the second time around because he used his only tool in his toolkit by boxing him and landing pot shots. Frampton can’t go back to that same tired old plan in the rematch, because Santa Cruz knows how to defeat it. Frampton can’t stand and slug with the younger, stronger Santa Cruz, because he’ll be worn down and likely stopped by him if he chooses to try to fight him in a one-on-one manner.
Santa Cruz reportedly has a rematch clause in his contract for the Frampton fight, so it’s not as if there’s much choice in the matter for the Northern Irish fighter. If there is a rematch clause in the contract, then it’s pretty cut and dried. Frampton would need to get back in the ring with the 27-year-old Santa Cruz next rather than moving on to fight a unification match against IBF strap holder Lee Selby, who is very, very interested in fighting him.
Frampton made a comment about being interested in possibly in facing WBC talent Gary Russell Jr. in his next fight, but it’s highly unlikely that he would actually take that fight. Russell Jr. is like a bigger version of Guillermo Rigoneaux in my view, and I cannot see Frampton ever agreeing to get inside the ring with a talent like that. It plays well though for Frampton to mention Russell Jr’s name in the media. I’m just wondering why Frampton didn’t mention former WBO champion Vasyl Lomachenko’s name, because that would have played out even more in terms of name dropping.
“It’s looking more likely that it will be a rematch with Santa Cruz either in the UK or in the States,” Frampton said via belfastlive. “I’ve told my team – and everybody is on board – that I want it before the end of the year, I want to have a Christmas that I can enjoy because I haven’t been able to do that for a few years because of big fights coming up afterwards. A rematch is what the fans and the television want and he was the champion and he gave me my chance so I’m more than happy to give him a shot.”
Yes, it’s very true that Santa Cruz threw Frampton a bone by giving him a title shot in a voluntary defense. Santa Cruz didn’t have to do this. It was obviously a good will gesture on Santa Cruz’s part, which is why it would be a nice thing for Frampton to do if he were to give Santa Cruz a rematch rather than moving on and fighting Selby or taking a voluntary defense of the belt.
Santa Cruz had problems against Frampton in the first six rounds of their fight due to him making a huge blunder in trying to box him. You never box a boxer, and Santa Cruz and his father/trainer Jose Santa Cruz should have known this. You don’t fight to the strengths of your opponent, especially when there’s a blueprint already out there created by Scott Quigg. It was all so simple for Santa Cruz to follow. All he had to do was follow Quigg’s blueprint and he would have likely beaten Frampton last month. Instead, Santa Cruz tried to stay on the outside and use his reach advantage to box his way to a decision. That approach normally works against other fighters, but not against someone like Frampton, who has a quick attacking style that enables him to close the distance quickly to land scoring punches before getting away. Frampton has been fighting taller guys his entire and he knows how to do it well. Santa Cruz royally blew it by not realizing that he needed to apply major pressure against Frampton from round one the same way that Quigg did in the 2nd half of their fight earlier this year in February.
To Santa Cruz’s credit, he did eventually start applying pressure in the second of the fight against Frampton and appeared to win the last six rounds going away. However, the judges seemed to have given Frampton pretty much all of the first six rounds of the fight, and that put Santa Cruz in an impossible position where he needed to score knockdowns for him to have a chance of winning. With the fight not being an open scoring affair, Santa Cruz had no way of knowing how desperate his situation was in the fight. Had he known that he needed to do something drastic, he likely would have stepped on the gas in a major way. As it was, Santa Cruz totally dominated a tired looking Frampton in the last six rounds to get the better of him.
As far as the rematch goes, it would need to be determined where Santa Cruz – Frampton would be fighting. Santa Cruz wants the fight to take place in Los Angeles, California, because their previous fight in New York gave Frampton a huge advantage due to many of the fans being supportive of him rather than Santa Cruz. Having the fight in Los Angeles would allow Santa Cruz’s fans to see him live. Putting the fight in Belfast, Norther Ireland or New York would give Frampton a huge advantage.