Frampton questions big name Santa Cruz matchups

One of the fights I was hoping to see in 2019 was a potential third match between Carl Frampton and Leo Santa Cruz. Frampton and Santa Cruz tore the house down in there previous two bouts with Santa Cruz winning the rematch that took place back in 2017.

Since then, like quite a few others, we have been waiting for a third match which isn’t happening anytime soon.

Frampton speaking with Boxingscene.com reminded me why he gave up on the prospects of a third fight with Santa Cruz.

“They just don’t seem interested,” Frampton told BoxingScene.com. “They haven’t seemed interested since he won the second fight. They know I’m willing to travel to L.A. to fight him in a trilogy, in the rubber match. But I just don’t think that fight is ever gonna happen. So, I’m focused on these other champions that Top Rank has at the minute – like Jamel Herring, like Oscar Valdez, like Shakur Stevenson.”

I wrote here back in April that about Frampton’s frustration on setting up the third match when he spoke about it on his podcast.

Vegas is mad. The mecca of boxing. Proud that it will be my second time fighting here on Saturday. Cant wait. #FramptonMcCreary #StillFrampton pic.twitter.com/p7amMenpuc

— Carl Frampton MBE (@RealCFrampton) November 29, 2019

Needless to say, Frampton scoffed at the notion that after Santa Cruz’s latest victory against Miguel Flores Saturday about wanting to fight big names such as Gary Russell Jr. and Gervonta Davis.

“That’s another fight that I don’t think happens,” Frampton said. “Leo’s been mentioning these big names pretty much his whole career, but the huge fights never really materialized. If you actually look through his record, he’s a four-weight world champion. He can call himself that now, but he fought Miguel Flores. He was another featherweight moving up for a 130-pound title. [Santa Cruz has] been looked after very well. Would they put him in with Gervonta Davis? Absolutely not a chance in hell. And I think if they did, Gervonta Davis takes him out inside of four rounds.”

Hard to go against anything that Frampton is saying since Santa Cruz hasn’t faced any elite competition or even the man who gave him his lone professional loss.

While it’s a wait and see if it happens for Santa Cruz, Frampton if he gets past Tyrone McCreary this weekend in Las Vegas, can pick and choose his battles in 2020 with the names he’s just mentioned. One of those names he’ll be able to scout is Oscar Valdez, who is battling on the same card.