Although it wasn’t the after-fight party he and his passionate fans were hoping for, Irish superstar Carl Frampton kept his word and met many of his fans for a post-fight drink on Sunday, after his close loss to Leo Santa Cruz.
Picking up the tab – in the only bar Frampton was ever going to choose in Las Vegas, “Nine Fine Irishmen” right on the Strip, not far from The MGM Grand, where Frampton and Leo Santa Cruz battled in their rematch – Frampton admitted he was “down in the dumps,” but was not going to let his fans down. Now Frampton is hoping Santa Cruz will not let him down, and will instead keep his promise of fighting him in a third fight in Belfast.
Frampton twice travelled to America to fight Santa Cruz, in New York and then Vegas, so it seems only fair the third fight is held somewhere in the UK, even if it’s not Belfast. But proud Irishman Frampton (and you can guess what his drink of choice was yesterday!) says he doesn’t believe any featherweight could beat him in Belfast.
“I do not believe there is a man in and around this weight division who could beat me in Belfast,” Frampton, now 23-1(14) told BBC Sport. “Hopefully Santa Cruz can come – I don’t know if he will. I believe I can come back stronger. This is sport and sometimes people lose. It’s about how you come back.”
It seems pretty certain that if Santa Cruz had his way, he would get on a plane for the rubber-match in Belfast, as he said he would do before scoring his revenge victory. But with “other options” out there for the Mexican warrior (so was said at the post-fight presser) it may not just come down to what Santa Cruz wants.
A trilogy is of course a natural; it has to happen. But will it happen in Belfast? It would be fairest, to Frampton and his army of fans, if the third fight took place in Ireland, but, bottom line: it’s a case of as long as the fight happens. Great trilogies do not always get fought back to back, though. Arturo Gatti and Micky Ward rumbled three times in a row, but Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier fought their epic trilogy over a four-year span, while Marco Antonio Barrera and Erik Morales fought their three incredible fights over a near five-year period.
Fans can be patient, and it is entirely possible Santa Cruz and Frampton will take other fights before concluding their respectful rivalry. But conclude it they will. They have to.
