Frampton MD12 Santa Cruz Was a Fair Decision, Says DiBella

by David P. Greisman

Not every close decision is a controversial one.

In the case of Carl Frampton’s majority decision over Leo Santa Cruz this past Saturday, one judge had it a draw at 114-114 while the other two had it a wider victory for Frampton, at 116-112 and 117-111.

Santa Cruz thought he did enough to win and wondered whether Frampton’s highly vocal contingent at Barclays Center influenced the judges by roaring whenever Frampton landed, or sometimes even when he didn’t. But he also gave Frampton credit, and the show’s promoter, Lou DiBella, believed the judges made a fine call.

“I thought it was a fair decision,” DiBella said afterward. “It was a brilliant, brilliant performance by Carl Frampton. But I also thought it was a close fight.”

DiBella said he had it 6-5-1, a narrow 115-114 win for Frampton.

“I wouldn’t say I’m a great judge, but I think I’m a pretty good judge. I think I’ve seen enough fights to know what I’m doing,” DiBella said. “I thought it was a close fight, but I think Frampton won. And there were so many rounds that were hard to score. I was going to get up here and sort of bash the 117-111 score. I don’t think that represents the fight that you saw, you know what I mean, because it looks so wide.

“But the rounds were so hard to score,” he said. “These guys didn’t take a breath. They were back and forth killing each other. And it was honestly one of the hardest fights I’ve ever seen to score.”

Pick up a copy of David’s book, “Fighting Words: The Heart and Heartbreak of Boxing,” at http://bit.ly/fightingwordsamazon or internationally at http://bit.ly/fightingwordsworldwide. Send questions/comments via email at fightingwords1@gmail.com