Leo Santa Cruz on Frampton Rematch: It Will Start at Round 13

By Ryan Burton

On July 30th, Carl Frampton (23-0) and Leo Santa Cruz (32-1-1) traded punches in of the year's most entertaining fights. The fight took place in Brooklyn, NY at Barclays Center with Frampton pulling out a majority decision victory. With the win Frampton took Santa Cruz's WBA featherweight title and became a two division champion.

The 28-year-old immediately exercised his rematch clause and the second fight will take place on January 28th at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.  Santa Cruz believes the fight will pick up where the action-packed first fight left off.

"Since the fight ended I wanted the rematch right away. I knew I made mistakes that I can improve. We are really motivated to get this win. I think this will be like round 13 and will be even better than the first fight," Santa Cruz told BoxingScene.com.

Many Irish and Irish-American fans were in attendance at the first fight and Santa Cruz expects to have more fan support in the sequel that takes place just a four hour drive from his Southern California residence.

"Vegas is like my second hometown so it should be a little more in my favor but I don't look at that. I just want to do my job and get the win the right way and that is what I plan on doing," he explained.

The Showtime Championship Boxing broadcast will open up with WBC lightweight champion Dejan Zlaticanin (22-0) defending his title against former two-division champion Mikey Garcia (35-0).

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