Comments Thread For: Camp Less Stressful For Santa Cruz Because Dad is Beating Cancer

[BIGPOPPAPUMP]

By Keith Idec - The start of Leo Santa Cruz's training camp for his rematch with Carl Frampton has been much more peaceful than most of his camp prior to their first fight. His father's cancer is almost completely in remission. Leo Santa Cruz can't even begin to express how much of a relief that is for him and their entire family. It's important in the gym, too, because Jose Santa Cruz has been his son's trainer since he started boxing 20 years ago...
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[Beercules]

That is great to hear.


Cancer is a twat.

[Boxing Logic]

Great to hear! We all wish the best to your father, brother, and whole family, Leo!

And I agree with him. I think it could make the difference. Leo is bigger and a little more naturally talented than Frampton. Frampton was more precise the first fight, better technically, but Leo has the size, reach, stamina, strength, and probably power, over Frampton, without much of a speed deficit either. They're about the same speed, MAYBE Frampton is a little faster, but otherwise Santa Cruz has every advantage except for precision, technique, and timing.

Yes, those things matter, as the first fight showed. But Santa Cruz isn't illiterate in those areas, either. This rematch is almost an impossible fight to pick. The only time Frampton hurt Santa Cruz in the first fight was a temple shot. Still a valid shot but can that be replicated? The temple shot put Santa Cruz off balance for like 1 second, and I think that made Santa Cruz tentative all fight, which allowed Frampton to outpoint him.

But after 12 rounds where no shots other than that one perfectly placed temple shot could hurt Santa Cruz, he may have figured out that was a fluke and that Frampton can't actually hurt him. If that's the case, Santa Cruz could go all out like normal, and I don't think Frampton can outbrawl the stronger, more powerful guy who also throws more punches when he's not worried about getting hurt.

So it's very hard to pick. Wouldn't surprise me to see this go to a trilogy. Which boxing fans would welcome, although hopefully they could both get one other top opponent in between the 2nd and 3rd fights, depending on how the second fight goes. My only reservation about doing this matchup three times in a row is that no matter how good the action is, what are the stakes exactly? There is no rivalry, and is it even for the championship of the division? Are they even the best guys in the division? I think it would add a lot to the rivalry if each could beat a guy like Gary Russell or Oscar Valdez, Felix Diaz, etc, in between. Then with that added context, the third fight could be that much more interesting.

But, if they were to lose to those guys, their third match would be less interesting. So maybe just do all three, and then the fights with those guys afterwards will be better for it. I'm happy as long as they keep taking good fights... I just think it would be even more epic with the added context that it was between the best guys in the division.

[Bronx2245]

Salute to Mr. Santa Cruz! Keep fighting hermano!

[Shadoww702]

Yeah that was a lot to deal with last time! Heck he wanted to cancel the fight but his dad wouldn't let him. And they did a TON of site seeing and hanging out in NYC so that took a lot of time away from his training. I think Leo is going to beat Frampton this time.

[bojangles1987]

Glad to hear this. Cancer is ****ing scary.

[Santa_]

Stay on your grind champ. You got this