By Jim Dower: Carl Frampton (23-0, 14 KOs) will be receiving a purse of $1 million for his title defense against former three division world champion Leo Santa Cruz (32-1-1, 18 KOs) tonight. Santa Cruz will be getting just a little bit less at $900,000, according to Dan Rafael. However, Frampton will almost surely make a lot more from the UK money that brings in. Frampton is very popular in the UK.
This is a good fight. The last time Santa Cruz and Frampton fought in 2016, they had the boxing fans sitting at the edge of their seats with the way the two traded shots. Frampton fought with a lot of energy, and was able to beat Santa Cruz at his own game.
(Photo credit: Esther Lin/Showtime)
Santa Cruz blamed his loss partly on his father not being there in his corner for the fight. He won’t have that problem for their fight tonight because his dad will be there with him.
Showtime Boxing will be televising the Frampton-Santa Cruz fight from the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada. Depending on what Santa Cruz brings to the table tonight, he could win if he shows more aggression early and doesn’t get caught in a tactical battle. Santa Cruz was able to out-box Abner Mares two years ago, but he showed that he couldn’t out-box Frampton. He would be a fool to try.
In other purses on the card, WBC lightweight champion Dejan Zlaticanin will be making less than his challenger Mikey Garcia (35-0, 29 KOs) for their co-feature bout. Zlaticanin will be getting $320,000 to Garcia’s $375,000.
Zlaticanin is a big knockout puncher like Garcia, and he’s got KO power in either hand. Garcia has the same kind of power. This fight is not likely to go the full 12 rounds. One of these guys is going to get stopped. Mikey has a lot of rust on his game because he’s only fought once in the past three years.
If Zlaticanin is able to handle Garcia’s power and take him into the deep waters of the fight, he could beat him. It would be Garcia’s first loss of his career. Garcia wants to become a big star in boxing. His time out of the ring stalled his career development. Garcia might have been a star by now if he continued fighting from 2013 to 2016. He left his previous promoters at Top Rank, and the two of them were involved in a long protracted legal issue that dragged for years until recently.