Undefeated Irish star Carl Frampton was officially welcomed to the United States and New York City Thursday by former world champion and Brooklyn-native Paulie Malignaggi before Frampton held a media workout at Gleason’s Gym as he prepares for his matchup with featherweight world champion Leo Santa Cruz taking place Saturday, July 30 live on SHOWTIME from Barclays Center.
Leo Santa Cruz
Premier Boxing Champions Series Heats Up July With A Jam-Packed Month
Already off to a red hot start, boxing fans should mark their calendars for a blockbuster Premier Boxing Champions Series (PBC) schedule in July, which features a jam-packed array of fights that will include prospects, contenders and championship matches that run the gamut from heavyweight to featherweight.
“The month of July is typically a slow time for boxing, but not this July. There will be eight PBC series shows that offer some of the most exciting boxers in the sport today,” said Tim Smith, Vice President of Communications for Haymon Boxing.
Leo Santa Cruz faces Carl Frampton on July 30
BROOKLYN (June 14, 2016) – Undefeated featherweight world champion Leo “El Terremoto” Santa Cruz (32-0-1, 18 KOs) and fellow unbeaten Irish star Carl “The Jackal” Frampton (22-0, 14 KOs) will meet with a world title and two perfect records at stake on Saturday, July 30 in the main event of a Premier Boxing Champions event from Barclays Center in Brooklyn. The SHOWTIME CHAMPIONSHIP BOXING® telecast begins live on SHOWTIME® at 9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT.
Frampton Relinquishes IBF Super Bantamweight Belt Ahead of His Bid for Featherweight Glory
Belfast’s undefeated Carl ‘The Jackal’ Frampton has relinquished his IBF World super bantamweight belt ahead of his WBA Super World featherweight title challenge of California’s undefeated champion Leo Santa Cruz, on July 30 at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York, USA. In order for Frampton to pursue two-weight World title glory against Santa Cruz this summer, the Northern Irishman must vacate his coveted IBF super bantamweight crown due to mandatory obligations.
Carl Frampton has special motivation ahead of Santa Cruz fight: “I want to win the WBA title back for Barry”
Unbeaten Irish star Carl Frampton was dubbed by some as The New Barry McGuigan after a few fights into a pro career that has now seen “The Jackal” capture two major belts as a super-bantamweight. Managed by the Irish legend who ruled the featherweight division for a short but shining time in the 1980s, Frampton’s next aim is to dethrone WBA featherweight king Leo Santa Cruz on July 30th. The motivation of becoming a two-weight champion and a big (or bigger) star in the US would be enough, but Frampton has an added motivation: that of “winning the WBA title back for Barry.”
Carl Frampton sure his clash with Leo Santa Cruz will be an all-action battle
As he will be the first to admit himself, Carl Frampton’s February win over Scott Quigg, in which the Irish star added (briefly) the WBA super-bantamweight title to his IBF, was a dull affair. This will not be the case in the summer when Frampton moves up to featherweight to face Mexican warrior Leo Santa Cruz. The fight, still to have its date officially announced, will very possibly be a Fight of The Year candidate.
Frampton himself, in speaking with Irish-Boxing.com, promises fans there will be plenty of action.
Frampton calls out Santa Cruz on Twitter; Rigondeaux Tweets how he’ll fight Frampton, Quigg and Santa Cruz!
(Photo credit: Matchroom Boxing) Go back a few years, and nobody in the boxing world, or any other part of the world, had any idea what Twitter, or a Tweet, was. Yet today, Twitter seems to be one of the most commonly used methods when a fighter either has big news to tell or wishes to call out an opponent. Within hours of the big but ultimately less than thrilling Carl Frampton-Scott Quigg super-bantamweight unification fight, Guillermo Rigondeaux, the universally accepted best 122-pounder on the planet, took to Twitter to both ridicule and call out Frampton.
Rigondeaux is rightfully demanding a fight with new IBF/WBA champion, yet he has gone one, well, actually two better, and has called out Frampton, Quigg and Leo Santa Cruz. Rigo Tweeted how he will, after he’s fought Jazza Dickens on March 12th, fight Frampton in April, Quigg in May and then featherweight champ Leo Santa Cruz in June! And as hungry (read starving) as the masterful Cuban is for the big fights he so clearly deserves, he probably would see out this hectic schedule if he was permitted to do so!
Frampton says his preferred next fight is Santa Cruz; says he knew Quigg fight would be “boring”
(Photo credit: Matchroom Boxing) Unbeaten Irishman Carl Frampton is already looking towards his next fight and, disappointingly for avoided Cuban master Guillermo Rigondeaux, it doesn’t look at this early stage as though it will be against “Rigo.”
Frampton, who broke Scott Quigg’s jaw during the 12-round split decision win in Manchester, spoke with Sky Sports after his victory and “The Jackal” had plenty of things to say:
Leo Santa Cruz TKOs Kiko Martinez in 5th round
(Photo Credit: Stephanie Trapp/SHOWTIME) ANAHEIM, Calif. (Feb. 27, 2016) – Leo “El Terremoto” Santa Cruz defended his WBA Featherweight World Championship in convincing fashion on Saturday night, knocking down Kiko “Sensación” Martinez twice in the first round, then ending it on a barrage of punches as the fight was called at 2:09 in the fifth round in the main event of a SHOWTIME CHAMPIONSHIP BOXING doubleheader at Honda Center in Anaheim, Calif.
In the co-feature on SHOWTIME, 29-year-old Hugo Ruiz (36-3, 31 KOs), Los Mochis, Sinaloa, Mexico, regained his WBC Super Bantamweight World Title with a devastating early knockdown with just 51 seconds into the 12-round fight against 23-year-old Julio Ceja (30-2, 27 KOs) of Atizapan De Zaragoza, Mexico, in a highly anticipated rematch of their August fight won by Ceja.
Santa Cruz stops Martinez
(Photo Credit: Stephanie Trapp/SHOWTIME) In easily the most exciting fight of this weekend’s fights, WBA featherweight champion Leo Santa Cruz (32-0-1, 18 KOs) stood in the trenches and slugged it out with the hard hitting Kiko Martinez (35-7, 26 KOs) in mowing him down in five thrilling rounds on Showtime Boxing on Saturday night at the Honda Center in Anaheim, California.
Santa Cruz put Martinez down on two separate occasions in the 2nd round of the 12 round fight. The end of the fight came in the 5th, when the 27-year-old Santa Cruz unloaded on Martinez with a nonstop storm of shots that resulted in referee Raul Caiz Jr. pulling the plug on the fight. Martinez, 29, was still on his feet, but he was near helpless if not for the referee stopping it. The official time of the stoppage was at 2:09 of the round.