Leo Santa Cruz vs. Carl Frampton - LIVE BoxingScene Scorecard
Jul 30, 2016 • 10:42 PM ET
By Peter Lim
It's cliched but it's true; all things being equal, the good big man will always defeat the good little man. Given that the slightly bigger Santa Cruz (32-0-1, 18 KOs) also has an edge over Frampton (22-0, 14 KOs) in power, quality of opposition and punch resistance, the outcome of this fight seems like a no-brainer.
But nothing can be taken for granted in the sport of boxing, and there have been exceptions to the rule in the big-man-versus-small-man department. Davids have unseeded equally or more accomplished Goliaths in the past, although the cases have been few and far between.
Michael Spinks became the first light heavyweight to win the heavyweight crown when he out-smarted Larry Holmes. Shane Mosley climbed two weight divisions to eke out a razor thin decision against Oscar De La Hoya. Roberto Duran, a natural lightweight, out-machoed the larger-framed Sugar Ray Leonard at welterweight in their first encounter. And Leonard came off a lengthy layoff, rose in weight and to the occasion to befuddle, bedazzle and dethrone long-reigning middleweight champ Marvin Hagler.
While Frampton is no all time great like the aforementioned fighters, what he has going for him in this fight is his defense and ability to box from the outside. Mind you, Santa Cruz is no slouch when it comes to shooting straight punches from long range but it is almost a secondary skill set. Encoded in his Mexican DNA is the natural penchant to brawl; his boxing skills are merely a means to the further end of closing the distance and to slug it out in the trenches.
Santa Cruz's supposed size advantage becomes less significant when taking into account that he began his pro career as at 115 and rose to 126 just last year. Frampton, on the other hand, has campaigned at 122 for his entire career.
Given the combatants' respective strengths and weaknesses, Frampton's only chance to pull off an victory is to devise and execute the perfect fight strategy. To do that, he should steal a page from the playbook of Winky Wright, one of the most under-recognized defensive technicians in the sport who specialized in defeating stronger, feistier opponents. Wright's upsets over Mosley (twice) and Felix Trinidad stemmed from his tricky ability to feign a willingness to engage in an exchange only to sneak away and sharp shoot his way to an academic albeit unspectacular victory.
Granted, Wright was a southpaw and Frampton is right-handed, but should the Irishman emulate Wright's doublecrossing bait-and-switch maneuvers from the opposite stance, and only if he does it to perfection, he might actually defy conventional wisdom and overcome the Mexican's superior size, strength, versatility and experience. It is a long shot but stranger things have happened in boxing.
