(Photo credit: Amanda Westcott/SHOWTIME) LONDON (28 July) – Mexican star Leo Santa Cruz has insisted that he is undaunted at facing a hostile Carl Frampton crowd in New York on Saturday night.
The pair collide in what is one of the most eagerly anticipated fights of the year when Northern Irishman Frampton moves up to featherweight to challenge WBA Super world champion Santa Cruz in a clash that will see one of their undefeated records tarnished.
(Photo credit: Amanda Westcott/SHOWTIME) By Scott Gilfoid: Carl Frampton (22-0, 14 KOs) expects his fight against WBA Super World featherweight champion Leo Santa Cruz (32-0-1, 18 KOs) to be a really tough one on Saturday nighton July 30 at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.
Frampton, 29, has his game plan down for the match and ready to spring it on Santa Cruz, but he realizes too that the fight could ultimately come down to the two of them brawling in center ring. In other words, tactics might fail and Frampton could be stuck having to prove that he can beat Gonzalez the old fashioned way by slugging it out.
By Scott Gilfoid: Carl Frampton (22-0, 14 KOs) expects to be a more dangerous fighter than he’s ever been before when he moves up in weight this Saturday night to challenge WBA featherweight champion Leo Santa Cruz (32-0-1, 18 KOs) for his title at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.
Frampton, 29, is moving up in weight four pounds from the 122lb division where he abandoned his IBF/WBA titles. Frampton wants to beat Santa Cruz, and then face Gary Russell Jr. and Lee Selby in unification matches. Frampton hasn’t said anything about wanting to fight newly crowned WBO featherweight champion Oscar Valdez yet, but that might be a step too far for him.
By Scott Gilfoid: Former IBF/WBA super bantamweight champion Carl Frampton (22-0, 14 KOs) will be stepping out of the safe confines of the UK this Saturday night when he challenges the talented WBA Super World featherweight champion Leo Santa Cruz (32-0, 18 KOs) this Saturday night at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.
This will be the second time that the 29-year-old undefeated Frampton has fought in the United States, and this time he has a good chance of leaving the country with his first loss of his seven-year pro career.
By Scott Gilfoid: Well, it looks like former WBA World super bantamweight champion Scott Quigg can’t let go of his 12 round split decision loss last February against Carl Frampton (22-0, 14 KOs). Instead of just forgetting about it and accepting reality that he wasn’t good enough, Quigg is pining away for a rematch against the 5’5” Frampton.
Indeed, Quigg (31-1-2, 23 KOs) wants a rematch so badly that he says he would turn down a title shot against WBA Super World featherweight champion Leo Santa Cruz (32-0-1, 18 KOs), who Frampton will be facing this month on July 30 at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.
Frampton has already vacated his IBF/WBA super bantamweight titles in order to move up to featherweight to challenge Santa Cruz. Had Frampton decided to keep his 122lb belts, he would have had to face unbeaten two-time Olympic gold medalist Guillermo Rigondeaux, and that probably wouldn’t have worked out too well for him.
By Scott Gilfoid: It’s generally agreed that Carl Frampton (22-0, 14 KOs) was quite lucky to have gotten out of his last fight with his hide intact against the big punching former WBA super bantamweight champion Scott Quigg last February.
It’s pretty much a given that the only reason the 5’5” Frampton won that fight was because of Quigg not fighting hard in the first six rounds. Quigg was asleep at the wheel until the last half of the contest, when he finally woke up and realized that he was in a real fight and that he needed to throw punches.
(Photo credit: Amanda Westcott/SHOWTIME) By Scott Gilfoid: Carl Frampton (22-0 14 KOs) has given up his IBF/WBA super bantamweight world titles in order to move up to 126 to challenge WBA Super World featherweight champion Leo Santa Cruz (32-0-1, 18 KOs) this month on July 30 at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.
Frampton, 29, thinks he’s been sacrificing power by draining down to fight at 122 at super bantamweight. Now that he’s moved up to featherweight at 126, he thinks he’ll have more punching power than he did in the past. I don;’t know about that.
Frampton’s problems in his fights against Scott Quigg and Alejandro Gonzalez Jr. had more to do with his inability to stand his ground and take heavy shots. Gonzalez Jr. dropped Frampton twice in their fight last year and also hurt him in the 9th.
(Photo credit: Amanda Westcott/SHOWTIME) BROOKLYN (July 7, 2016) – Undefeated Irish star Carl Frampton was officially welcomed to the United States and New York City Thursday by former world champion and Brooklyn-native Paulie Malignaggi before Frampton held a media workout at Gleason’s Gym as he prepares for his matchup with featherweight world champion Leo Santa Cruz taking place Saturday, July 30 live on SHOWTIME from Barclays Center.
Frampton was joined by his manager, Hall of Fame former featherweight world champion Barry McGuigan, and his son Shane, Frampton’s trainer. Frampton returns for just his second fight stateside aiming to win back the same WBA Featherweight World Championship that Barry McGuigan lost 30 years ago. McGuigan’s loss to Steve Cruz on June 23, 1986 was his second and final fight in the U.S.
By Scott Gilfoid: Well, I must say it didn’t look great recently with Carl Frampton (22-0, 14 KOs) vacating his IBF and WBA super bantamweight titles rather than face his mandatory Guillermo Rigondeaux. That was seen as a major duck by Frampton in the eyes of a lot of people.
I guess Frampton had his reasons for giving up the belts and not taking on the highly talented Rigondeaux the way that the boxing community wanted him to. Frampton says he wants to show off his ability this month in his title challenge of WBA Super World featherweight champion Leo Santa Cruz (32-0-1, 18 KOs) in their fight on July 30 on Showtime Boxing from the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.
By Scott Gilfoid: WBA featherweight champion Leo Santa Cruz (32-0-1, 18 KOs) will be defending his title on July 30 on Showtime Championship Boxing from the beautiful Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.
The younger 27-year-old Santa Cruz has already spotted weakness in Frampton around the chin area. He questions Frampton’s punch resistance, and he plans on exposing that when the two of them get inside the ring next month on 7/30 in the United States.