By Scott Gilfoid: Leo Santa Cruz’s father/trainer Jose feels that his son did not lose the fight to Carl Frampton (23-0, 14 KOs) last Saturday night in their fight at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. Santa Cruz was making a routine voluntary defense of his WBA title, but found himself on the losing end of a 12 round majority decision by the scores of 117-111, 116-112 and 114-114. Jose Santa Cruz wants an immediate rematch. Jose spoke to Santa Cruz’s manager Al Haymon to find out if there’s a rematch clause in the contract for their fight, and he told them there was. Frampton’s manager Barry McGuigan didn’t seem to know about the rematch clause when he was asked by the media at the post-fight press conference last Saturday night.
Needless to say, the rematch clause changes everything, because Frampton now won’t be able to go on his merry way to fight a big UK unification fight against British IBF champion Lee Selby next.
Frampton will have to go back and fight Santa Cruz a second time, but this time he’ll be dealing with pure pressure from the opening bell and will be facing withering fire for 12 rounds rather than just six. I hate to say it, but I think Frampton is going to get beaten worse than he did last Saturday in the rematch with the talented 27-year-old Santa Cruz.
“I’m telling you, I did not see my son lose. If I had seen him lose I would say so, that’s why we want the rematch,” said Santa Cruz’s dad to ESPN Deportes. “Many people have said they saw Leo win. My son spoke to Mr. Al Haymon at the end of the fight and he said that there is a rematch clause. If that’s the case then of course we want a direct rematch, but now it could be in Los Angeles or in Las Vegas in around three months’ time, in November.”
I totally agree with you, Mr. Jose Santa Cruz. I believe that your son DID beat Frampton last Saturday night. He should have had his hand raised because I thought it was pretty much a route in the second half of the contest. I think the judges were having an off night and were not at their best.
So there it is, Santa Cruz has a rematch clause in the contract, according to Jose Santa Cruz, and they intend on pushing for an immediate rematch rather than letting Frampton go and fight whoever he wants. I mean, Santa Cruz is obviously going to get a rematch anyway. The only difference now is that he won’t have to wait until 2017 for the rematch, because the longer he has to wait, the more it hurts his career in the meantime. It’s better for Santa Cruz’s career for him to quickly beat Frampton in the rematch so that he can regain the boxing fans that he lost from the results of that fight. It’s bad news for Santa Cruz for him to be sitting with an un-avenged loss to Frampton for over a year. Additionally, there’s a risk that Frampton could get whipped by someone else before Santa Cruz gets to him. If that happens, then it would be bad for Santa Cruz, because he would be getting sloppy seconds in facing Frampton. I mean, if Santa Cruz beats Frampton after the Irish fighter has lost to someone like Gary Russell Jr., Selby or Oscar Valdez, then boxing fans will likely say, ‘So what if Santa Cruz beat Frampton. He already got beaten by Selby [or Russell Jr], so big deal.’ Frampton has been very, very lucky that he didn’t lose his last two fights,
I saw the Santa Cruz vs. Frampton fight three times now, and I had Santa Cruz winning 117-111 the first time I saw it, and then 116-112 the last two times. I had Santa Cruz winning five of the last six rounds, including three of the first six. I thought the scoring by the judges was absolutely dreadful.
After the fight last Saturday, Frampton said he was interested in facing Selby next. He also mentioned being interested in facing Russell Jr., but Frampton seemed to have a gleam in his eyes when he mentioned Selby. He said his name first and then mentioned Russell Jr. after that. With the way Frampton said it, I got the distinct impression that Selby is the guy that he wants to fight next rather than a risky fight against Russell Jr., who I feel does everything that Frampton can do but much, much better. Russell Jr. is faster, stronger, and a better defensive fighter than Frampton. There’s no way on earth that I see Frampton fighting Russell Jr. next, and I see it the same with Oscar Valdez. I don’t think McGuigan would give Frampton the green light ever to fight Russell Jr. or Valdez.
It’s too bad for Frampton that he’ll have to be facing Santa Cruz next, because I guess that spoils his likely plans for a big UK bash against Selby. Oh well, that’s how the cookie crumbles sometimes. Frampton will get his 15 minutes of frame with his controversial win over Santa Cruz until he faces him in November or December, and likely loses the fight.
As for the rematch between Santa Cruz and Frampton, I think it’s going to play out either in Belfast, Northern Ireland or New York again. I know that Santa Cruz’s dad wants it to take place in Los Angeles, California, but I don’t see that happening. I think Frampton would be totally against fighting Santa Cruz in Los Angeles, because the fans would be overwhelmingly in support of Santa Cruz. It wouldn’t be like last Saturday’s fight where Frampton had the crowd support firmly on his side, and it was as if he was fighting at home in Belfast. If there’s any truth to the theory that judges are influenced by crowd support of the home fighters, then I think Frampton benefitted from the support that he got from the huge pro-Frampton crowd last Saturday night. Santa Cruz certainly believes that the judges were partly influenced by the crowd support that Frampton was getting from the screaming – and singing – fans.