CARL FRAMPTON is the favourite now, but he’ll train like an underdog for his rematch with Leo Santa Cruz and predicts a “more convincing” win this time.
Frampton left for Las Vegas, scene of his WBA featherweight title rematch with the Mexican, on Tuesday certain that he’ll trump his points win over the Mexican in July with a more emphatic victory at the MGM Grand on January 28.
Meanwhile, Santa Cruz - who was given a raucous welcome from fans at a Europa Hotel press conference on Tuesday - is determined to win back the WBO featherweight belt he lost to ‘the Jackal’ in New York. He hopes to set up the third fight of a trilogy in Belfast and to force that he has to win the second but Frampton sees no prospect of that happening.
“I always prepare like an underdog,” said Frampton.
“You prepare like you’re going up against it and I am going up against it. Leo Santa Cruz is a very good fighter, he’s a three-weight world champion. He’s a proud man and he’ll be looking to get this title back but it’s up to me not to allow that to happen and I’m prepared to do whatever it takes to get the win.”
He and Santa Cruz spent long passages of their July meeting at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn furiously trading punches in the centre of the ring.
Santa Cruz worked tirelessly, but it was the Belfast native who landed the cleaner shots and sent El Terremoto staggering into the ropes in the second round.
“I don’t know if he can bring more intensity,” said Frampton on Tuesday.
“He threw almost 1,100 punches in the last fight. Can he be any more intense? I don’t know. When he was throwing punches he was throwing them from out of range and that's because he was fearful of getting hit, as I hurt him so early in the fight, and that was the plan.
“He didn’t hurt me in the fight. He’s got reasonable power but I walked through anything he had. I hurt him clearly, visibly, in the second round and I believe I stiffened his legs a couple of times throughout the fight, and he knows that, that's in his head.
“But I believe if I’m smarter, I can win more convincingly but also hurt him more. I was throwing shots, lots of shots, when I could’ve been maybe putting more power into single shots.”
Losing his title and suffering his first loss in 10 years as a pro was devastating for a proud Mexican fighter like Santa Cruz and he is desperate to prove himself Frampton’s equal.
He says his training was understandably overshadowed by Jose, his father and coach, undergoing treatment for cancer - happily, he is now on the road to recovery - and he knows losing this rematch will leave him at a real crossroads in his career.
“This is really close to my hometown and I know it’s going to be a really tough fight so all the pressure is on me,” he said.
“I have to go out there and look for the win and look spectacular. I’m just going to relax, train hard and do what I have to do and do what I do in the gym. I know he’s not going to lose that belt easily.
"He’s going to come in with everything, even better than the first fight so, me, I’ve got to give my best performance and I’ve got to go out there and do everything almost perfectly to get the win.”
