Leo Santa Cruz vs. Carl Frampton: Ring the Damn Bell

By Cliff Rold

The best fights are often those that combine two elements.

The first is that feeling on uncertainty for the audience. Last weekend had some of that. Few expected a barnburner in Terence Crawford-Viktor Postol. Most thought Crawford would win.

But they didn’t know.

When two undefeated battlers near or at the top of their divisions face off, you never really know. It has to be seen. If one man can take over and dominate, as Crawford did last weekend, one simply tips their cap. Making common conception into reality isn’t easy work.

So that’s the first element. Match two top guys with the outcome reasonably in doubt.

We can check that box going into this weekend. WBA featherweight titlist Leo Santa Cruz (32-0-1, 18 KO) defends against IBF 122 lb. titlist Carl Frampton (22-0, 14 KO) and there are reasons to like both men’s chances.

This also has element number two.

On paper, this looks like a fight that should deliver excitement with the uncertainty.

Santa Cruz has the sort of style that doesn’t make for dull moments. He comes forward and throws punches. According to CompuBox after his last outing, a drubbing of former 122 lb. titlist Kiko Martinez, Santa Cruz averages about 85 punches per round in his fights. Among active champions, it is second only to flyweight champion Roman Gonzalez.

Santa Cruz lacks the technical precision and complimentary defense of Gonzalez, but if you bought a ticket that doesn’t really matter. 85 thrown means plenty landing.

Frampton doesn’t throw as many. In his unification win over WBA titlist Scott Quigg earlier this year, Frampton hovered at around 40 punches per round until the final three frames.

What happened in rounds 10-12?

Quigg started to come on. Faced with increasing pressure, Frampton increased his output to around 70 punches per round. The evidence suggests that, under fire, Frampton is going to fight back. When he has the chance to fight at a more measured pace, his advantage likely comes by way of his precision. Frampton is a smart boxer and talented counter puncher. 

Unlike Quigg, Santa Cruz will be demanding he fight back much earlier. How often the pace can be measured, how much room Frampton will have to counter, has yet to be determined.

No fight is perfect and, for the super purists, here is something negative that can be said about this fight.

Neither Frampton nor Santa Cruz seemed to want anything to do with the best fighter at 122 lbs. when they were there. Both said they’d be fine fighting once-again WBA titlist and lineal king Guillermo Rigondeaux. It’s a lot like saying one would drink castor oil.

Sure, if it’s the only option available, castor oil is great.

Checking the cupboard for an alternative is preferable.

But this isn’t one of those fights where someone not in the ring matters all that much. Frampton, coming off the Quigg win, isn’t taking an easy one. Santa Cruz, two fights removed from a barn-burning win over Abner Mares to snag a title in his third weight class, isn’t staying on the path of least resistance that marked much of his run at 122.

This is a fight both men can lose. It’s risk and reward and they are taking a risk in a fight fans should enjoy. It’s bulletproof matchmaking.

As a bonus it comes when both are at the height of their physical primes. Santa Cruz is 27, Frampton 29. Promotional entanglements might make it hard to predict the winner facing an Oscar Valdez down the road but could we look forward to one of them versus Gary Russell? It’s possible.

Just like it doesn’t matter who isn’t in the ring Saturday (Showtime, 9 PM ST/6 PM PST), what comes next doesn’t either.

We’ve got this fight, right now, and it’s the goods.

The first half of 2016 was marked too often by a lot of banter and not enough beatings that mattered. The sport is turning the corner. Keith Thurman-Shawn Porter, Orlando Salido-Francisco Vargas, and Crawford-Postol are in the books. Roman Gonzalez-Carlos Cuadras, Jorge Linares-Anthony Crolla, Krzysztof Glowacki-Oleksandr Usyk, Jermall Charlo-Julian Williams, and Sergey Kovalev-Andre Ward are coming.

Santa Cruz-Frampton is here.

Ring the damn bell.

Cliff’s Notes…

Star Trek Beyond was a reminder of just how much fun Star Trek can be at its root elements. Fine effort from all involved…Amir Khan is talking trash about why he isn’t getting a Pacquiao fight? It’s nice to see he’s awake again after the Alvarez fight. How about he win a fight first before he starts insisting on big names? Just saying…Ruslan Chagaev and the WBA? Don’t care…Getting back to Pacquiao, let’s see a fight with Crawford. Pacquiao hasn’t beaten an elite opponent not named Timothy Bradley since at least the debatable third fight with Juan Manuel Marquez in 2011. Let’s see what the old man had left. Let’s see if a new star is truly born…Don’t blink during Adonis Stevenson-Thomas Williams. 

Cliff Rold is the Managing Editor of BoxingScene, a founding member of the Transnational Boxing Rankings Board, and a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America.  He can be reached at roldboxing@hotmail.com