Unbeaten Irish warrior Carl Frampton today flew to New York for his step up to featherweight title challenge of Mexican warrior Leo Santa Cruz. The fight is still 27 days away, July 30, but Frampton said he made mistakes in his previous trip to America, when he was twice knocked down in his points win over Alejandro Gonzalez Junior – and one of these mistakes, Frampton told ESPN.com, was not getting to El Paso soon enough.
Now, the man who has ruled at super-bantamweight, winning two belts there, aims to be 100-percent ready for his WBA 126-pound title challenge.
“Everything was just too laid back before I fought Gonzalez, I took it for granted a bit,” Frampton said. “Things were wrong but this time we will be out for four weeks before and I’m going into the fight as the underdog and will be doing things different. I need to show the American crowd what I’m capable of. That (against Gonzalez Jr) was me at 70 percent and I really need to be at my best to beat Santa Cruz because he’s the best fighter I’ve come up against.”
Fans are expecting a great fight on July 30, between two proven action fighters. In fact, we might get a FOTY contender at The Barclays Centre. Santa Cruz throws a huge amount of punches per round and Frampton can be a high volume puncher himself – the styles of these two will make a great fight almost unavoidable. But Frampton will have to be a lot better than he was against Gonzalez if he’s to become the first man to defeat Santa Cruz, 32-0-1(18), as he himself acknowledges. Frampton will also have to throw far more punches than he did in his disappointing, albeit winning fight, with Scott Quigg last time out.
Santa Cruz has gone on record as saying he thinks Frampton, 22-0(14) had a bad, or suspect, chin. Santa Cruz can test his belief, make no mistake about that. But if Frampton had a bad night and nothing more against Gonzalez, in what was his US debut, Santa Cruz might be in for a tougher fight than he is perhaps anticipating. But even if this is the case, can Frampton pull off the biggest win of his career?
This one has the look of a great fight, and credit to both men for taking the fight, but a Santa Cruz win looks the likeliest outcome. Frampton, though, a very strong individual, both mentally and physically, is certainly capable of proving the odds-makers wrong. With the summer period being quiet for boxing, this fight could well prove to be an oasis in the desert.
