Carl Frampton Edges Leo Santa Cruz, Mikey Garcia & Tony Harrison Win

Carl Frampton Edges Leo Santa Cruz, Mikey Garcia & Tony Harrison Win

Photos by Amanda Westcott for Showtime

by Sarah Deming

BROOKLYN, N.Y.–The Barclays Center felt like Belfast Saturday night when Carl “The Jackal” Frampton took the “0″ from Leo Santa Cruz in a matchup of undefeated featherweights.

On paper, this Showtime main event looked like light work for Santa Cruz. With his eight-inch reach advantage and high punch output, Santa Cruz should have been able to keep Frampton at the end of his combinations all night long. Except that Santa Cruz is one of those tall guys who don’t fight tall. And Frampton is a very good boxer. And nobody loves their fighters like the Irish.

When the Jackal took the ring in silvery trunks that matched his eyes, the crowd sang Ulster football songs and waved North Irish flags. They cheered at the opening bell. They cheered when he landed his stiff jab. They cheered when he missed, but he wasn’t missing much.

In his first fight at 126 lbs., Frampton was heavier-handed than he had been at junior feather. The power differential showed in the second round, when he wobbled Santa Cruz momentarily. He tagged Santa Cruz again in the third with a right uppercut to the point of the chin and continued to score heavily in the fourth.

In the fifth, Frampton boxed on the outside, timing Santa Cruz with the one-two and the lead right hand. It is a beautiful thing when a short man outboxes a tall one, a victory for straight lines and timing.

The sixth saw momentum shift as the two fighters stood toe-to-toe and traded. This favored Santa Cruz’s handspeed and high punch output. The seventh was another good round for Santa Cruz, who was working well to the body and head.

In the eighth, Frampton put his foot back on the gas and landed some heavy shots, although Santa Cruz continued landing at higher volume. The ninth was also close, with Santa Cruz pulling off a few virtuosic flurries at round’s end.

In the last three rounds, the young titlist seemed to wake up and realize his belt was slipping away. Santa Cruz was an A-student, always smiling, always thanking everyone. It seemed unfair that the crowd should be so against him, but New York has never been a Mexican town. Frampton looked tired, but the warmth of the crowd seemed to flow into him, holding him up through Santa Cruz’s late rally.

Santa Cruz did enough to get a draw on one judge’s card, but this was overruled by scores of 116–112 and 117–111, making Carl Frampton the first Northern Irish fighter to win titles in two weight divisions.

In a lightweight special attraction, Mikey Garcia shook off the ring rust with a blowout of Elio Rojas, who hit the canvas four times en route to a fifth round stoppage loss. Garcia, newly emancipated from his promoter, plowed forward throughout the fight, while Rojas fought on his heels, brave but doomed.

In a battle of two old Brooklyn buddies, Paulie Malignaggi cruised to an easy unanimous decision over Gabriel “Tito” Bracero. The two were top amateurs together until their boxing careers took opposite paths, Tito’s derailed by jail, Paulie’s enriched by his talent for commentating. Both embraced for a long time at the end of the bout.

Bookending the undercard, Tony Harrison of Detroit and Tevin Farmer of Philadelphia gave slick American boxing lessons to plodding Eastern Europeans. Farmer’s decision win over Ivan Redkach was more fun to watch, like a sadistic dance. Harrison, on the other hand, had the crowd booing his caution as he boxed behind his Detroit shell until he caught Sergey Rabchenko with a fast right hand in the ninth. Class dismissed.

I skipped the post-fight press conference, even though I wouldn’t have minded looking at Carl Frampton in another costume change, under different lighting. Those icy blue eyes. Those tattooed shoulders. I wanted to drink a pint with him and ask why he took the nickname of a scavenger and what he thought about Brexit.

But I had to feed my entourage, so we set off in search of beer and wings. This was the perfect night for an entourage, the kind of night that makes people lifelong boxing fans and that makes lifelong boxing fans happy to be alive.