Leo Santa Cruz Says Father's Illness Was a Factor in Frampton Loss

By Edward Chaykovsky

Leo Santa Cruz is hungry to avenge the first defeat of his pro career.

He will challenge WBA featherweight champion Carl Frampton on January 28th in a Showtime televised fight from the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.

Frampton won a twelve round majority decision over Santa Cruz in July at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. There was a rematch clause in place, so now Frampton (23-0, 14KOs) and Santa Cruz (32-1-1, 18KOs) will knuckle up for a second time.

Santa Cruz, and his father/trainer Jose Santa Cruz, believe they won the match - which many saw as a Fight of The Year battle.

Coming in that fight, Jose Santa Cruz was battling cancer and it was a very emotional time for his son. There was even pre-fight talk that Leo might withdraw from the contest because his father was absent from a good portion of the training camp. 

In the first fight, Frampton had an army of Irish fans who traveled over to to New York City to support him. This time around, Santa Cruz expects a lot of his supporters from California to make the trip to Vegas.

“I don’t like to make excuses, but I think my dad’s illness had a little bit to do with the loss to Frampton. I didn’t train as I had to because my dad wasn’t there with us in camp. He was in chemo, he was in hospital," Santa Cruz told Newsletter.

“This camp is going to be way different, my dad is going to be there the whole time. I think my mind was more there with him than in camp. In that fight I didn’t do what I had to do. We’re going to train in the camp with my dad and my brother and they’re going to tell me how to fight and we’re going to go in with a different game plan and it will work perfectly. I want to get revenge. I had a perfect record and now I have to go out there and beat him.

“Beating him will erase that loss - I know it won’t erase the loss - but if I beat him it will feel in my head like I am still undefeated. It is great the fight is in Vegas because it is nearer to my home town of LA and people fly in to Vegas from all over the world for the fights. I will have a different game plan for this fight and I believe I will get the job done."