CARL FRAMPTON says he’s “confident” his WBA featherweight title showdown with Leo Santa Cruz will take place this summer - but nothing has been signed yet.
Social media was buzzing last Friday when US broadcaster Showtime included the fight on its schedule and later claimed the unbeaten pair had “agreed to a championship match-up to be scheduled for late summer”.
Both fighters have stated they want the fight and Frampton said on Monday that he is confident it will happen in the summer: “They’re talking about the end of July or August if it gets done, so hopefully it does. I’m confident enough that it’ll get made.
“I doubt it will be here, it’ll be America - it would be good to be on the east coast, but it might be in Vegas, who knows?”
Moving up 4lbs to the featherweight limit of nine stone makes sense for 29-year-old Frampton at this stage of his 22-0 career. Fighting in late summer gives him plenty of time to scientifically put on the extra weight.
The Belfast man is the IBF and WBA world super-bantamweight champion and, if the fight with Santa Cruz (33-32-1) does happen, he would have to relinquish his WBA super-bantamweight belt.
Frampton has been ordered to defend that title against Guillermo Rigondeaux by July 27. Rigondeaux was due to face Jazza Dickens last weekend, but the fight was called off because of visa issues, although promoter Frank Warren said last week that the former Cuban Olympic champion was in the US “for some unknown reason”.
After out-pointing Scott Quigg to win the WBA strap in Manchester, Frampton said he would be happy to fight ‘Rigo’, but he and manager Barry McGuigan both identified Santa Cruz as the preferred next target in their sights.
“It’s very appealing to me,” said Frampton.
“I think Santa Cruz could do super-bantam, but if have to go to featherweight [I would]. I wouldn’t go to featherweight for a no-mark, it would need to be a big fight for a world title. He obviously is a big name and there’s other big names at featherweight, but I promise this is the easiest I’ve made super-bantamweight. There’s options at this weight and there’s options above.”
Cyclone boss McGuigan added: “There’s a number of possibilities.
“We are going to look at the money fights and the money fight is Santa Cruz, that’s a great fight. He’s a volume puncher, non-stop, he walks you down and it would be a breathtaking fight. The difference between Santa Cruz and Scott Quigg is that Scott didn’t want to throw punches.
“He was so apprehensive because he was being hit hard and he didn’t want to let them go. Santa Cruz does let them go and it would be a fabulous fight.”
BRITISH Boxing Board of Control official Jon Lockwood landed himself in hot water last weekend.
On his personal Twitter feed, Lockwood called for Eddie Hearn and Joe Gallagher to help set up a fight between Carl Frampton and Lee Selby: “I’ll love to see Lee ko him,” he tweeted.
The entry was quickly deleted, but Frampton and Barry McGuigan were both annoyed by the statement. Frampton tweeted: “Says the BBBoC boxing inspector. I hope Robert Smith [BBBofC General Secretary] doesn’t see this you silly boy.”
Selby had been linked with a possible featherweight showdown against Frampton, but that won’t happen in the short term after the Welsh IBF champion confirmed he’ll defend his title against American Eric Hunter in London on April 9.
Promoter Barry Hearn revealed the fight could have taken place in Cardiff if a May date had been chosen - but it will now be held at the O2 Arena in London.
Selby’s trainer Chris Sanigar had said Selby/Frampton “could easily be made”, so it could still happen - possibly next year: “Windsor Park is a possibility and we’ve also got the Millennium Stadium, so there’d be a lot of things to talk about,” he said.
“I get on great with Barry McGuigan, so I think negotiations may be a lot easier than they were with Quigg’s party. Barry’s family and my family get on very well together and it’s a fight that could easily be made. We talk regular, my son talks with Barry’s boys and I talk to Barry on a regular basis.”
Welshman Selby (29) captured the world title by beating Evgeny Gradovich in May 2015. He was then successful in his first defence against Mexican Fernando Montiel in Phoenix, Arizona in October.
TERRY FLANAGAN beat Derry Mathews by unanimous decision to retain his WBO world lightweight title at Liverpool’s Echo Arena.
The Mancunian repeated his win over Mathews in the 2012 Prizefighter - but for a bout billed as two fighters with knockout potential, it took the judges to separate them after a tetchy encounter.
Flanagan had the better of the early rounds, but was given multiple warnings for pushing and use of the elbow. The challenger enjoyed a much stronger fifth round, landing a couple of good shots and his improved showing delighted a raucous home crowd.
He continued his momentum in the next, but the effort began to tell on him and Flanagan regained the initiative in round seven - though he was eventually docked a point in the next for use of the forearm.
He was spoken to again in round nine, but upped the ante in terms of legitimate hits and went into the final round seemingly in control of the scorecards and was able to keep his opponent quiet to see out the fight. Two judges scored the fight 117-110 in Flanagan’s favour, with the third awarding him a narrower 115-112 verdict.
He could now look to line up a unification fight against Anthony Crolla, should his fellow Mancunian succeed in his first defence against Venezuela’s Ismael Barroso.
The undercard saw Paul Butler stop Sebastian Sanchez to win the WBO international super flyweight title and Tommy Langford beat Lewis Taylor to add the Commonwealth middleweight title to his WBO Intercontinental belt.
FREDDIE ROACH predicts Timothy Bradley will have to cope with a “nuclear assault” from Manny Pacquiao when the pair face for the third time in the final fight of Pacman’s career on April 9.
Pacquiao (57-6-2) has vowed to bow out of the sport after the Las Vegas showdown, which is the final instalment of a best-of-three decider after both claimed wins in the first two.
Pacquiao has attracted some negative publicity with homophobic comments that cost him an endorsement deal with Nike, but trainer Roach says training has gone well ahead of the MGM Grand rumble.
“We had a strong camp in the Philippines and Manny, as usual, is way ahead of schedule in his conditioning and very motivated,” he said.
“The real business begins for us on Monday at Wild Card. We have great sparring waiting for Manny. I know that ESPN announcer [Teddy Atlas], who is coaching Bradley, is a good storyteller and likes acting.
“Let’s see how well they do when we go off script and hit them with a dose of reality TV. Playing firemen isn’t going to protect them from the nuclear assault Manny will be launching.”
