Tonight the sport of boxing will once against by spotlighted from Brooklyn, NY as Premier Boxing Champions will be live from the Barclays Center. Showtime Championship Boxing will be telecasting two of the more exciting fighters in the world as Mexico’s Leo “El Terremoto” Santa Cruz defends his WBA Super World Featherweight title against Northern Ireland’s Carl “The Jackal” Frampton.
When his game is on, Leo Santa Cruz is 1 of the best boxers in his and nearby divisions. He a fighter with a high volume amount of punches, he has long arms and uses his jab well, and he has solid enough pop to keep guys from charging right into him. This will be his 4th fight at this weight limit and after his win against Abner Mares a year ago, he is looked at as the class of this division with room to grow into a top 130-pound fighter.
The 29-year-old Carl Frampton is an exciting fighter that likes to mix it up. He does use his jab well, but with his short arms, his strength is getting inside and working the body. He uses his combinations well and has a wide stance which can generate more power along with helping him to avoid and duck under punches from his opponents.
The 27-year-old Santa Cruz will be stepping into the ring with an undefeated record of 32-0-1 with 18 KOs. His best win was the Abner Mares fight, but he also has solid wins against Victor Terrazas, Cristian Mijares, and most recently Kiko Martinez. Although he is favored in this matchup, Frampton is by far the highest skilled boxer that he will have faced thus far in his career. Is Santa Cruz ready for the type of pressure that Frampton will obviously apply?
Frampton was the top fighter in the world at 122 pounds. He has an unblemished record of 22-0 with 14 KOs. He is coming off the best and possibly the most impressive win of his career. He not only dominated another top 3 fighters in his division, but he also broke his jaw and proved he was the class of the division, aside from the people yelling Guillermo Rigondeaux right now. He’s been great in his career against longer boxers, getting inside and taking away their power. Now he faces the biggest and longest boxer he’s ever faced.
Santa Cruz has a 69-inch reach compared to an only 62-inch reach by Frampton. Theoretically he should have about a 3-inch reach on his jab, however, as I said before, Frampton is used to that disadvantage, and it has not bothered him so far. However, Santa Cruz throws a lot of punches, around 80 per round and earlier in his career as much as 100 punches per round. It will be interesting to see if Frampton can figure out how to maneuver around a long jab that has such a high volume of punches. I think the jab volume will give Frampton issues and because of that, I’m going with Santa Cruz by unanimous decision.
This is going to be an exciting fight. As much as boxing fans complain about what seems to be everything in the sport, this fight, and this card is something that is worth watching and talking about. The card will include the return of former 130-pound king Mikey Garcia after over two and a half years out the ring, as well as local favorite Paulie Malignaggi returning to fight in NY for the 1st time since he his loss to Danny Garcia, a fight that most boxing fans thought would be his last.
All in all, it should be a fun time in Brooklyn, and I suggest if you can’t get out to the arena, watching it on TV. The tickets are close to, if not sold out, but whether you are in the building or watching at home. The atmosphere should be a good one and the main event between Leo Santa Cruz and Carl Frampton maybe the best fight we get for a while, so sit back and enjoy the fights.