By Keith Idec
Carl Frampton doesn’t believe Leo Santa Cruz.
The former three-division champion says he’ll approach his rematch with Frampton less aggressively. He’ll box more and brawl less, according to Santa Cruz, a fan favorite whose aggression and high punch production provides consistent entertainment.
No matter how much Santa Cruz talks about boxing when they meet again Saturday night in Las Vegas, Frampton suspects it’s just that – talk.
“I’m ready for whatever style that comes from Leo,” Frampton said during a conference call last week. “If I’m being honest, I think he’s trying to throw me a dummy. I don’t think he’s gonna try and box at all. I think he’s just gonna try and even put more pressure on and become more relentless than he was the last time.
“I think that’s their game plan. And if he does try to box me, I honestly think that that’s a mistake from their team because it makes the fight much easier for me.”
Frampton (23-0, 14 KOs), who’ll defend his WBA world featherweight title for the first time, prefers boxing over brawling. He displayed patience and ring generalship during each of his last two fights – a 12-round, majority decision win against California’s Santa Cruz (32-1-1, 18 KOs) on July 30 in Brooklyn and a 12-round, split-decision defeat of England’s Scott Quigg (32-1-2, 24 KOs) on February 27 in Manchester, England.
There were times he exchanged with Santa Cruz in a bout that warranted honorable mention for “Fight of the Year.” But he was smart and tactical on his way to winning by comfortable margins on two of three scorecards (117-111, 116-112, 114-114).
“If you look at me and my stature, I’m a short, stocky guy,” Frampton said, “and people just look at me and automatically think that this guy’s gonna be a brawler. But I prefer people to come to me. And I prefer to box on the back foot, if I’m being honest.
“I can mix it up on the inside if I have to, but I think that right through my career, amateur to professional, I’ve always preferred guys to come to me and Leo just keeps coming all night. So I think his sort of style, it’s a great style, it’s an exciting style, but I think that it’s tailor-made for mine.”
Showtime will televise the Frampton-Santa Cruz rematch from MGM Grand Garden Arena. It’ll be the main event of a doubleheader that’ll begin at 10 p.m. ET/7 p.m. PT with another scheduled 12-rounder between Montenegro’s Dejan Zlaticanin (22-0, 15 KOs), the WBC world lightweight champion, and former two-division champion Mikey Garcia (35-0, 29 KOs).
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.
