Leo Santa Cruz vs Carl Frampton Preview
On July 30th at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, Mexico’s Leo Santa Cruz (32–0–1, 18 KOs) and Northern Ireland’s Carl Frampton (22–0, 14 KOs) put their undefeated records on the line against each other in a matchup of two of the best boxers in the world south of 130 lbs.
The highly anticipated fight between two of the biggest stars in the lower weight divisions is being promoted by DiBella Entertainment and will be televised live Saturday night on Showtime.
Chief support will be the return of undefeated contender Mikey Garcia of Oxnard, Calif. against Elio Rojas of the Dominican Republic. Both fighters have been out of the ring for two years thanks to contract disputes. Before his extended hiatus, Garcia, 28, was one of the hottest fighters in the sport. Editor Gautham Nagesh recently interviewed Garcia for The Wall Street Journal.
Also featured on Showtime will be Detroit junior middleweight Tony Harrison, who will face Sergey Rabchenko from Minsk, Belarus. The undercard on Showtime Extreme will include an all-Brooklyn welterweight battle between good friends Paulie Malignaggi and Gabriel “Tito” Bracero.
Santa Cruz established himself as one of the worlds premier bantamweights by the end of 2012 before deciding to move up to 122 lbs in 2013. In his super bantamweight debut that May, Santa Cruz defeated Venezuelan Alexander Munoz by fifth-round stoppage.
Santa Cruz put the rest of the division on notice a few months later in August with a statement third-round knockout win over super bantamweight contender Victor Terrazas of Mexico. Santa Cruz capped off 2013 with a unanimous decision victory over Cesar Seda in December.
2014 got off to a promising start for Santa Cruz, with a dominant decision win over contender Cristian Mijares in March. Santa Cruz actually called out Frampton after his win over Mijares, but the fight never materialized. Santa Cruz then starting drew the ire of fans by facing subpar competition in his next few fights, when there were plenty of big names in his division that he could have faced, namely Abner Mares.
The criticism of Santa Cruz came to a crescendo on the Mayweather-Pacquiao undercard. Santa Cruz placed in the co-feature of the biggest fight of the 21st century, but instead of facing an elite opponent with the whole world watching, he took on former sparring partner Jose Catayeno in his first non 12-round fight in two years. Santa Cruz wasn’t even able to stop his overmatched opponent and had to settle for a shutout unanimous decision.
Finally fed up with hearing about his lackluster opposition, Santa Cruz gave the fans what they wanted and took on fellow Mexican Abner Mares in a featherweight bout a few months later in August. The fight lived up to the high expectations, with Santa Cruz winning a thrilling 12-round majority decision between the two Southern California residents in front of a raucous crowd at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. The action-packed win propelled Santa Cruz back into the good graces of fight fans.
Frampton has been a star in his native Northern Ireland and the surrounding countries for a number of years, routinely fighting in front of electric sold-out crowds in his hometown of Belfast. But his U.S. debut last July was surprisingly shaky. Frampton was dropped twice in the first round by the unheralded Alejandro Gonzalez before recovering to win a unanimous decision.
Frampton went back across the pond for a mega fight of his own, facing Scott Quigg in February in Manchester., England Frampton-Quigg was similar to Santa Cruz-Mares in that both fights took years to make despite high public demand.
Unlike Santa Cruz-Mares, Frampton-Quigg did not live up to the high expectations. The bout was more of a tactical battle than a slugfest, and both fighters looked a bit tense under the huge spotlight. Nonetheless, Frampton got the better of his nemesis, winning a split decision and setting himself up for a second consecutive major fight against an unbeaten opponent.
Santa Cruz and Frampton share a common opponent, Kiko Martinez of Spain. Both fighters were able to stop Martinez. In February 2013, Frampton won the European super bantamweight title against Martinez with a ninth-round knockout at the Odyssey Arena in Belfast. They had a rematch 19 months later in September 2014, this time at a makeshift outdoor arena in Belfast to accommodate more of Frampton’s legion of fans.
Frampton did not get the stoppage the second time, but was able to win a near-shutout decision. Santa Cruz faced Martinez in his most recent fight, which took place at the Honda Center in Anaheim on the same day as Frampton-Quigg. Santa Cruz took Martinez out in the fifth round.
A fight between two elite fighters, both undefeated and in their primes, is never easy to predict, and that’s why fans love this type of matchup. Santa Cruz is a come forward, action fighter who’s workrate in the ring is only surpassed by pound-for- pound king Roman “Chocolatito” Gonzalez.
Frampton has a more calculated style, preferring to fight at a measured pace and landing precise counter shots. Frampton will gladly exchange leather when pushed, which should make for a very exciting scrap.
Santa Cruz will be the bigger man on fight night, with a 3-inch height advantage and 7-inch reach advantage over Frampton. This is also Santa Cruz’s fourth fight at featherweight, while Frampton is fighting above the super bantamweight limit of 122 lbs for the first time.
Prediction: Frampton will have the crowd behind him with a large contingent of Irish in the New York area. The fight will be a thrilling back-and-forth affair most of the night before Santa Cruz wears down the smaller man with his size advantage and pressure style in the championship rounds to eke out a close decision 115-113.