Santa Cruz vs. Frampton

(Photo credit: Amanda Westcott/SHOWTIME) By Patrick McHugh: If it’s up to Leo Santa Cruz (32-1-1, 18 KOs), he’ll be getting a fast rematch with Carl Frampton (23-0, 14 KOs), who beat him by a 12 round majority decision last Saturday night to take his WBA Super World featherweight title at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. Santa Cruz says he wants the rematch with Frampton to take place in Los Angeles, California, because he figures that it would be a different story with the support that he would receive from his fans in that venue. The judges scored the fight 114-114, 117-111 and 116-112. Santa Cruz landed 211 of 1,002 punches in the fight. There were 197 punches thrown in the 12th round alone.

Santa Cruz says that he agreed to fight Frampton in New York in front of an audience that he felt were filled with a lot of Irish fans of Frampton. Santa Cruz believes that Frampton should do the right thing and agree to fight him in Los Angeles.

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(Photo credit: Amanda Westcott/SHOWTIME) By Patrick McHugh: Newly crowned WBA featherweight champion Carl Frampton (23-0, 14 KOs) and Leo Santa Cruz (31-1-1, 18 KOs) likely won’t be facing each other until the summer of 2017, according to the manager of Frampton Barry McGuigan. We don’t know yet if there’s going to be a rematch. Frampton beat Santa Cruz by a 12 round unanimous decision at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. The scores were 117-111, 116-112 and 114-114.

While the LA Times writer Lance Pugmire talked about there being a rematch clause, it might not be so. Dan Rafael is saying that Frampton’s manager Barry McGuigan is saying there isn’t a rematch clause.

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(Photo credit: Amanda Westcott/SHOWTIME) By Dan Ambrose: Leo Santa Cruz (32-1-1, 18 KOs) threw over 1000 punches last Saturday night in losing his WBA featherweight title to challenger Carl Frampton (23-0, 14 KOs) by a 12 round unanimous decision at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. The final punch stats were as follows: Santa Cruz landed 255 of 1002 punches for a connect percentage of 25, according to CompuBox.

For his part, Frampton landed fewer shots in connecting on 242 of 668 punches for a connect percentage of 36. Frampton won the fight by the scores 114-114, 117-111 and 116-112. The wide scores by judges Tom Scheck (117-111) and Frank Lombardi (116-112) didn’t go along with the fight that actually took place in the ring. It was a much closer fight than these two judges scored it.

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(Photo credit: Amanda Westcott/SHOWTIME) By Scott Gilfoid: Well, whether Carl Frampton (23-0, 14 KOs) likes it or not, he’s going to have to face former WBA featherweight champion Leo Santa Cruz (32-1-1, 18 KOs) again in a rematch after beating him by a 12 round majority decision last Saturday night at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.

According to Lance Pugmire of the LA Times, Santa Cruz has a rematch clause in the contract for his fight last night against Frampton. Santa Cruz says that he’ll be talking to his manager Al Haymon to have him exercise his rematch clause. The rematch will likely take place in Frampton’s home city of Belfast, in Northern Ireland.

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(Photo credit: Amanda Westcott/SHOWTIME) By Scott Gilfoid: WBA featherweight champion Leo Santa Cruz (32-1-1, 18 KOs) thinks that the judges may have been influenced by the crowd last night with their scoring of the fight between him and Carl Frampton (23-0, 14 KOs) at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. I could certainly see where the judges would be influenced by all cheering for Frampton, because I thought the same thing last night until I got smart and turned down the volume on my television. With the sound off, I saw Santa Cruz winning almost round of the fight except for three. But I had the luxury of turning down my TV.

The judges didn’t have that ability, which is why boxing needs to make changes to the sport where judges are put in sound proof booths where they can’t hear the cheering for the fighters. At the same time, the judges should only have vision of the actual ring and not the audience, because they might be influenced by the fans jumping up and down for a fighter during the fights.

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By Dan Ambrose: In a highly controversial decision, former IBF/WBA super bantamweight champion Carl Frampton (23-0, 14 Kos) defeated WBA featherweight champion Leo Santa Cruz (32-1-1, 18 KOs) by a 12 round decision on Saturday night at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.

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(Photo credit: Amanda Westcott/SHOWTIME) By Scott Gilfoid: The shorter Carl Frampton (22-0, 14 KOs) will be taking a step up in class tonight to challenger WBA featherweight champion Leo Santa Cruz (32-0-1, 18 KOs) for his belt at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. Frampton feels that he’s got what it takes to not only beat the taller 5’8” Santa Cruz, but also the other featherweights in the division. That’s obviously hard to buy into when you take a glance at how Frampton struggled in his last two fights against Scott Quigg and Alejandro Gonzalez Jr.

The only reason Frampton didn’t lose to Quigg was because he didn’t start fighting hard until the 7th round. By that point, the best that Quigg could hope for was a draw, which I thought he deserved. Frampton really collapsed big time in the second half of the fight under the pressure that Quigg put on him.

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By Jim Dower: Unbeaten WBA featherweight champion Leo Santa Cruz (32-0-1, 18 KOs) made weight on Friday in weighing at 125.5 pounds for his title defense against former IBF/WBA super bantamweight champion Carl Frampton (22-0, 14 KOs) on Saturday night at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. The 29-year-old Frampton weighed in at 125.25lbs.

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