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Leo Santa Cruz vs Carl Frampton
- Updated: July 28, 2016
Leo Santa Cruz 32-0-1(18 KO) vs Carl Frampton 22-0(14 KO)
Boxing needs all the competitive matchups it can get, with the constant sabotaging it does itself all throughout almost every year. Santa Cruz vs Frampton is exactly what it needs, a potential classic between A-level exciting fighters. If only boxing could value itself more! But let’s not go off on a tangent. This card at Barclay’s is full of very talented fighters and guys who are looking to advance their careers and get back into title contention.
This is a phenomenal match up between fighters right in their primes and incredibly contrasting styles Santa Cruz is very tall(5’8”) for a Featherweight with a 69 inch reach and really uses his advantages to box and hurt you while Frampton stands at 5’5” with only a 62 inch reach but is super explosive and fighter who likes to fight midrange because of the same lack of physical attributes. Santa Cruz has pretty much had smooth sailing in his recent fights and has faced good competition in beating the likes of Abner Mares to prepare for this fight. Frampton has faced good competition as well, beating undefeated Scott Quigg in a competitive fight in Ireland. He also faced a fighter with similar attributes to LSC in Alejandro Gonzalez, which started rough(knocked down twice in the 1st round) but ended with him dominating mostly. What more to say, really? Both of these fighters are so good and the fight is sure to be explosive with ebbs and flows throughout.
For Santa Cruz to win he has to use his height and reach to box Frampton. Frampton needs to get in and out because of his lack of reach and height so Santa Cruz needs to anticipate that and fight accordingly. LSC has shown some wrinkles here and there, I’ve noticed, of a decent counter punching skill, mostly with his left hook. If he times Frampton and keeps him at the right range the fight can be his to take but I’m sure he will try to come forward and back him us, as is his style.
For Frampton to win I believe he needs to get in and out and exploit the slower Santa Cruz’s defensive liabilities. I anticipate him pot shotting quite a bit in this fight. He has the footspeed and handspeed advantage by far in this fight and if he can get off 4-5 punches to 1-2 by LSC and repeat that for 12 rounds then he has a good shot at winning this. I think if he moves a bit more in this fight he can definitely make LSC uncomfortable and force him to reset consistently.
I think here the problem for Frampton is that LSC is pretty much the slower fighter in every fight of his and has faced similarly athletic and gifted fighters that he knows how to deal with the style. This will be such an explosive fight and a seesaw battle that it’s difficult to pick one guy but I think I favor Leo Santa Cruz here because of the attributes I listed in the beginning and because I feel like he’s improved a lot as a boxer over the years.
Leo Santa Cruz by Decision.
Tony Harrison 23-1(19 KO) vs Sergey Rabchenko 27-1(20 KO)
A very interesting fight here between 1-loss Junior Middleweight fighters. Tony Harrison once was overwhelmed by comparisons to Tommy Hearns due to where he’s from(Detroit) and mostly because of his 6’1” physique as well as his power and speed. That all came to a screeching halt with his lone and unexpected loss to a wily veteran, Willie Nelson. He was seemingly dominating the fight and was close to a stoppage a couple times but that all changed with a few punches and the fight was over. Since then he’s bounced back with some wins over unspectacular fighters. He has the whole package from the speed to the power to the great technical ability. The only thing we can question is his punch resistance and how that will fare in this fight. Sergey Rabchenko had a pretty good amateur resume and as stated, his only blemish was the Mundine fight in 2014 which could arguably have gone his way. A very competitive fight where both fighters showed their skill but Rabchenko seemed to land the more effective punches throughout the fight. His style is an interesting one. He has some power but has a diverse punch array from the body to the head, hooks, straight punches, uppercuts. Also underrated is his footwork. He always seems to be able to get in and out very quickly and uses that to his advantage to get his punches off.
For Harrison to win I believe he needs to push Rabchenkko back as often as he can. I noticed that Rabchenko isn’t nearly as good on the back foot as he is on the front foot. And Harrison is the faster fighter by a good margin in terms of hand speed. If Harrison can fire off the jab and rip combinations, as well as avoid exchanges with Rabchenko then he can win this fight. With Harrison’s power I would expect him to be able to hurt him at some point and that would aid him greatly in keeping Rabchenko off of him.
For Rabchenko to win he needs to keep the pressure on Harrison at all time. Questions still revolve around Harrison’s punch resistance and stamina and he can answer that by going to the body and staying on Harrison as much as he can. Harrison looks like a great boxer but I question if he can really keep to that gameplan for a whole 12 rounds with someone as relentless as Rabchenko. He will also need to move his head a bit more.
I believe we will get a really explosive fight here and someone is getting knocked out. Harrison has shown more weakness in that regard so I’m picking Rabchenko by KO in a very competitive fight.
Mikey Garcia 34-0(28 KO) vs Elio Rojas 24-2(14 KO)
At his best, Mikey Garcia was one of the best fighters in the Featherweight and Super Featherweight division but disputes about his contract with Top Rank and Bob Arum kept him out of action for way too long and he lost all the momentum that he built up beating the likes of Orlando Salido, Roman Martinez and Juanma Lopez(back when he wasn’t as ruined). This fight is something to get him back in the spotlight and shake the rust off against a fighter who has a wide UD loss to Jhonny Gonzalez and a loss to Gamaliel Diaz in his career. Rojas seems pretty talented and speedy so it may not be an easy fight at first but he will be figured out soon enough. Garcia is an excellent fighter with speed, power and technique. We all know how great the guy can be if he stays active in the ring. There truly is nothing much to talk about in this fight if Mikey can shake off the rust.
Garcia KO
