Frampton wants Selby fight after Santa Cruz

BoxingNews24.com

By Scott Gilfoid: WBA Super World featherweight champion Carl Frampton (23-0, 14 KOs) hasn’t yet faced Leo Santa Cruz (32-1-1, 18 KOs) in a rematch and he’s already looking past him towards a unification match against IBF World featherweight champion Lee Selby (23-1, 8 KOs) later this year.

Frampton’s management appear to be getting the boxing fans primed for that fight by having Selby fighting on the undercard of the Frampton-Santa Cruz 2 card this Saturday night against Jonathan Victor Barros (41-4-1, 22 KOs).

Having Selby on the undercard is a clear sign that they’re counting on Frampton beating Santa Cruz a second time, and they want to get the fans interested in a match against Selby later this year. Having seen Selby fight many times, I think Santa Cruz would wipe the deck with him with ease.

Frampton will no doubt beat him as well, although not nearly as easily in my opinion. Selby will be lucky if he can get past Barros. I see that as a very hard fight for Selby, who has not exactly been testing himself rigoursly when it comes to facing quality opposition since winning the IBF title in 2015 against Evgeny Gradovich. Thus far, Selby has successfully defended his IBF title twice in beating 37-year-old Fernando Montiel and Eric Hunter.

Don’t ask me why Selby chose to fight Montiel in his first title defense, because he’s not a major player in the featherweight division. Montiel was a very good fighter when he was fighting in the super flyweight division, but he didn’t have the size or the youth to be fighting at featherweight against a fighter like Selby.

Frampton says he’s interested in fighting Selby as long as the fight can take place in Ireland. Frampton feels that he would be the A-side in the negotiations because of him being the bigger ticket draw. What’s interesting is how the 29-year-old Frampton is already looking past his fight this Saturday night on January 28 against Santa Cruz. The two of them are facing each other in a rematch at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Frampton won a controversial 12 round majority decision last year in July in a fight staged in front of a fan friendly Frampton crowd at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. Despite Santa Cruz being the American, the fans were overwhelmingly supporting Frampton from start to finish.

“I think that’s a huge fight,” Frampton said to skysports.com about a match against Selby. “It’s appealing to the boxing public, especially in the UK. Maybe not so much in the States, but it’s a big fight in this part of the world. If he’s willing to come to Belfast and have a unification fight with me in the summer after I beat Santa Cruz, then I’m happy to have it.”

Frampton vs. Selby is not going to interest many fans in the States. Frampton is right about that. Selby could help attract interest in a fight against Frampton in the States if he stays in the pocket and actually fights Barros on Saturday instead of running around the ring like he usually does. Selby is one of those crafty fighters that likes to make his opponents miss all night long. He’s not someone that is going to come out and try and score a knockout against anyone. That’s not his style. As such, I don’t expect Selby to impress the U.S boxing fans against Barros. It could be bad if Selby runs. I can see the crowd booing if Selby chooses to stay on the move for 12 rounds.

I don’t think it’s a good idea for Frampton to be looking towards future fights right now. He’s got to keep his eye on the ball for his fight against Santa Cruz, because he did appear to lose to him the last time they fought. I don’t care that two of the judges scored the match in Frampton’s favor. Santa Cruz looked like the better fighter in the minds of a lot of the boxing fans.

If I were Frampton, the last thing I would be doing right now is setting up a fight against Selby. I mean, I see that as a good fight for Frampton to take if he loses to Santa Cruz on Saturday. As far as Frampton assuming that he’s going to get past Santa Cruz a second time, I think that’s a mistake. This fight isn’t going to be in New York this time. That means that it’s not going to be a huge pro-Frampton crowd that cheers each time he throws a punch. It’s going to be a crowd that will likely be cheering more each time Santa Cruz throws punches.

Frampton expects many of his boxing fans from the UK to be in the crowd, as a lot of them are going to be traveling to the States to see it live at the MGM Grand. I still don’t see there being enough fans to sway the outcome of the fight. If Frampton wins on Saturday, it’ll be due to him being the better fighter. I don’t think the judges will be unconsciously influenced by crowd noise, which some boxing fans think happened last time Frampton fought Santa Cruz.