Frampton expects Santa Cruz rematch to be easier

BoxingNews24.com

By Scott Gilfoid: Carl Frampton (23-0, 14 KOs) says he expects to be involved in a tough fight this Saturday night in his rematch against Leo Santa Cruz (32-1-1, 18 KOs) on January 28, but he doesn’t think it’ll be a tougher one for him than their previous fight last July. In fact, Frampton believes the fight will be easier this time for him due to the training that he’s put in to prepare himself for the talented 28-year-old American Santa Cruz.

Frampton barely beat Santa Cruz last year in winning a 12 round majority decision by the scores 114-114, 116-112 and 117-111. The fans were rooting for Frampton the entire fight, and some boxing say that the judges were influenced by the crowd noise. The racket the fans were making in favor of Frampton made it appear that he was doing better than he was.

(Photo credit: Ryan Greene _ Premier Boxing Champions)

I watched the previous Frampton vs. Santa Cruz fight, and I was able to shut out the noise from the crowd to see what was actually going on inside the ring, and I had Santa Cruz winning the fight. Of course, not everyone is able to shutout noise like me, so I don’t blame the judges if they were unconsciously influenced by the cheering from the pro-Frampton crowd. This time it’s going to be different though. The fight isn’t going to be taking place in New York in front of a large Frampton crowd. It’s taking place at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada. The boxing fans will be split more or less down the middle with neither fighter likely having more fans than the other. If it had been this way the last time Frampton and Santa Cruz fought each other, I think Santa Cruz would have won easily. I’m just saying.

“I’m expecting a tough fight but I don’t know if I’m expecting a better one,” said Frampton via the dailystar.co.uk. “I’m expecting a tough fight but I don’t know if I’m expecting a better one. Last time there were a lot of excuses thrown about afterwards but I think that is Leo Santa Cruz, that’s how he fights,” said Frampton.

Gosh, it sure does sound like Frampton is overlooking Santa Cruz. It’s sad. Frampton is so used to winning; he doesn’t realize when he’s met his match. Frampton would have lost his last two fights against Santa Cruz and Scott Quigg if both of those guys had started fighting really hard in the 1st round instead of waiting until the 5th and 6th rounds.

I thought Quigg deserved at least a 12 round draw in his match against Frampton in February 2016. Quigg appeared intimidated and giving Frampton too much respect early on in the fight. By the time that Quigg started to take the fight to Frampton and punish him in the 6th, he was already well behind in the fight. I saw Quigg sweeping the last six rounds of the fight to earn either a draw or a narrow win.

“I believe it will be a tough fight but the way I’m training at the minute,if I bring it into the ring then it should be an easier fight,” said Frampton.

Frampton can’t be any better than he was the last time, because his whole game is built around him fighting on the outside. If Santa Cruz is able to pressure him and get to the inside like he did last July, then Frampton is going to gas out badly and wind up losing the fight. That’s why I’m expecting Frampton to come out grabbing Santa Cruz on Saturday night. I mean, each time Santa Cruz works his way to the inside, I see Frampton grabbing him in a clinch and holding on for 20 seconds until the referee pulls them apart. When Santa Cruz gets inside again, I see Frampton grabbing for another clinch.

It’ll be like this all night long unless there’s a good referee assigned to the fight that disqualifies for excessive holding. If I’m Santa Cruz’s trainer, I’d have gone over different scenarios like clinching for the fight. The last thing Santa Cruz needs is to go out there and wind up being blindsided by Frampton trying to stall out the fight.

“I actually think I’ll beat him and I think it will be more comfortable this time,” said Frampton.

If Frampton beats Santa Cruz fair and square by going out and proving he’s the better fighter, then more power to him. You’ve got to give Frampton his respect if he can do that, but if we get the wacky scoring like last time in the previous Frampton vs. Santa Cruz fight, then that’s not good. It’s also not good if Frampton chooses to use excessive clinching to stop Santa Cruz from fighting him on the inside. If the referee just lets Frampton hold all night without penalizing and eventually disqualifying him, then it’s going to be bad for the boxing fans.

Santa Cruz knows how to beat Frampton now after figuring him out in the second half of their previous fight. That gives Santa Cruz an advantage in this fight, because he’ll start in where he left off last time by applying tremendous pressure on Frampton from round 1, making him fight it out tooth and nail whether he wants to or not.

David Haye: Tony Bellew’s head will burst like a watermelon

David Haye (28-2, 26 KOs) sees himself administering a bad beating to the pumped up cruiserweight Tony Bellew (28-2-1, 18 KOs) in their fight on March 4 at the O2 Arena in London, England. Haye feels that Bellew is not in his class, and won’t be able to hang around with him more than two or three rounds when these two fighters start trading blows on Sky Box Office pay-per-view. Haye thinks that Bellew only won his last fight against BJ Flores because he hit him with a low blow, and then took him out while he was hurt.

I saw the fight, and I wasn’t impressed with Bellew. I didn’t like what I saw from Flores as well. Flores was a fringe contender rated at No.14 by the World Boxing Council. You can’t blame him for having problems.

Haye said this to the express.co.uk about his fight against Bellew on March 4th:

“Tony Bellew’s head will burst like a watermelon,” said Haye. “I think I’ve got more longevity now. I want to fight three times a year. And if everything goes to plan, it will only be for two years. I won’t consider losing. I don’t believe there’s anybody on the planet that can beat me.”

Bellew is going to make it easy for Haye, because he’s obviously going to be looking to trade with him. That’s the way that Bellew fights. He likes to try and land his right hand. If he does against Haye, he’s going to get countered on the sport by a left hook. I see Haye ending the fight right away. As soon as Bellew hits Haye with something, I think Haye is going to throw a quick flurry of shots, and turn him into another Enzo Maccarinelli by having him staggering around the ring, totally defenseless. Bellew won’t able to defend himself when he’s in that condition. Haye will then poleaxe Bellew with a big shot to send him down for the count. The fight will then be halted.