Carl Frampton sounding desperate for Santa Cruz fight

By Scott Gilfoid: Carl Frampton (24-1, 14 KOs) has given up on the idea of trying to lure WBA Super World featherweight champion Leo ‘El Torremoto’ Santa Cruz (34-1-1, 19 KOs) to Belfast, Northern Ireland for a third fight between them. Frampton, 30, now says he’s willing to come to the U.S to face Santa Cruz in Las Vegas, Nevada for a third fight.

Frampton says his fans in Belfast would never put up with Santa Cruz being robbed of a decision. They would speak their mind about that.

“They (my fans) know a good fighter and if there’s a bad decision they won’t stand for it even if it is for the local man so Santa Cruz has no excuses for not coming here,”Frampton said to The Belfast Telegraph,

It’s interesting that Frampton says his boxing fans would make a big production about them not standing for a bad decision. There wasn’t anything said after Frampton won a controversial 12 round majority decision over Santa Cruz in their first fight in New York in July 2016. Frampton’s boxing fans weren’t complaining about that decision, which was viewed as a highly controversial one in the eyes of a lot of fans. Frampton appeared to lose the fight, but was given a decision win in front of a large pro-Frampton crowd in New York. The audience was filled with Frampton’s supporters on the night. Santa Cruz clearly didn’t realize ahead of time what a mistake it would be for him to fight Frampton in New York in front of his fans. For all intents and purposes, the first Santa Cruz vs. Frampton fight in 2016 was the equivalent of them fighting in Belfast. As such, Frampton and Santa Cruz are split 1-1 in terms of fighting in front of their home fans. Since Santa Cruz won the last fight between them, it’s only fair that the rubber match take place in the U.S in Los Angeles, California, NOT Las Vegas. Los Angeles is where Santa Cruz lives, and that’s where most of his boxing supporters are. Las Vegas is more of a neutral city. Since Santa Cruz still hasn’t fought in front of his own fans for the Frampton fight, it makes sense for a third fight between them to be staged in Los Angeles. Santa Cruz should give Frampton the shot if he’s willing to travel to Los Angeles to fight in front of Santa Cruz’s fans.

“Santa Cruz will never come to Belfast,” Frampton complained. “Instead of talking nonsense and sending out excuses for not wanting to come and face me in Belfast, which he said he would do on more than one occasion, he should show some cojones like [Nonito] Donaire and agree to come here or maybe he would prefer it if we had the third fight in an empty hall. But, if push comes to shove and to get that third fight I have to travel then I’ll go to Vegas again.”

There’s a big difference between Santa Cruz and the 35-year-old Donaire. The 29-year-old Santa Cruz is a world champion in the prime of his career. The former 4 division world champion Donaire is clearly on the downside of his career and was recently beaten by Jessie Magdaleno by a 12 round unanimous decision in November 2016. Donaire is not in the position to dictate where the Frampton fight will take place.

If Donaire was in that position, the fight would likely take place in Las Vegas or perhaps in the Bay Area in beautiful San Leandro, California. That’s where Donaire lives. He’s in the Hayward area. Donaire is not going to drag a popular fighter like Frampton to San Leandro with his career on the brink of implosion after his loss to Magdaleno.

Donaire will be traveling to Belfast on April 21 to face Frampton at The SSE Arena in front of a pro-Frampton crowd. Donaire says he doesn’t care. He feels he can still win the fight. Never the less, Donaire has got to be at least a little apprehensive about his chances of winning a decision over there. We just saw Frampton win a controversial 10 round unanimous decision over visiting fighter Horacio Garcia on November 18 at the SSE Arena in Belfast. Let me tell you, a lot of boxing fans thought Garcia beat Frampton on the night and was royally robbed by the judges. Even the great Mexican star Saul Canelo Alvarez thought Horacio Garcia (33-4-1, 24 KOs) was given a raw deal with the scoring of the Frampton-Garcia fight. Canelo was there at ringside to watch the fight live, and he thought the 27-year-old Garcia had done more than enough to deserve the victory on the night. Frampton was dropped in round 7 by Garcia, and he had BIG time problems with the young Mexican warrior’s pressure, power, work rate and youth down the stretch. That’s another thing about Frampton. I hate to say it, but he’s getting old. That was Frampton’s 5th consecutive less than impressive performance since 2015. I don’t want to drizzle on Frampton’s parade, but he’s starting to look like a shot fighter. I mean, Frampton has not looked good since his win over the late Alejandro Gonzalez Jr. in July 2015. That was supposed to be a show case fight, but it turned out to be anything but that with the young 22-year-old Gonzalez Jr. dropping Frampton twice in round 1, and staggering him in round 9. Since that fight, Frampton has looked just awful.

Here are Frampton’s last 5 opponents:

• Alejandro Gonzalez Jr. – Frampton knocked down twice

• Scott Quigg – A controversial 12 round split decision win for Frampton. Boxing News 24 scored it a draw

• Leo Santa Cruz – controversial 12 round majority decision win for Frampton in July 2016 in New York

• Leo Santa Cruz – Frampton loses a 12 round majority decision in Las Vegas

• Horacio Garcia – Frampton wins a controversial 10 round unanimous decision in Belfast in November 2017. Frampton knocked down in the 7th round

I think Frampton is starting to look like a shot fighter. I hate to say it, but I think the wear and tear of Frampton’s grueling fights with Santa Cruz is starting to show their effects. The last thing Frampton should be doing right now is looking past his fight with Donaire towards a third fight with Santa Cruz. Yeah, if Frampton was looking like the spectacular fighter he was 4 years ago, then I could see him looking past Donaire, but he’s not that same fighter any longer. Frampton is gotten older, and there are no easy wins for him nowadays in his fights. Horacio Garcia was supposed to be an easy mark. He was little more than a bottom fringe contender pulled into Belfast to make Frampton look good.

Instead, Garcia arguably beat Frampton and exposed him for being a guy that is no longer at the top of his game. Now Frampton is facing another guy that is supposed to be an easy mark in Donaire, and he could very well lose to him on April 21. If Frampton wins a controversial decision over Donaire, I would at least expect his loyal fans to start making some noise about it. After all, Frampton said it himself that his boxing fans in Belfast “won’t stand for it” if he wins a controversial decision. If Frampton’s fans are quiet about him beating Donaire by a controversial decision, then that throws out his theory about them bellyaching when he wins questionable decision. We do know there wasn’t any harping from Frampton’s fans in Belfast after his controversial win over Horacio Garcia and his win over Santa Cruz. As such, you can’t expect Frampton’s fans to behave any differently if Donaire winds up on the receiving end of a robbery.