Frampton decisions Santa Cruz; wins Featherweight crown - Boxing's-Number-one Podcast and Website

BROOKLYN–Carl Frampton wrestled the WBA Featherweight title from Leo Santa Cruz via majority decision in a terrific back and forth bout in front of a raucous crowd of 9.062 at Barclays Center.

The two stood toe to toe in many occasions that thrilled the pro-Frampton audience that made the trek from Ireland. The bout had many ebbs and flows where Frampton seemed to jump to an early lead as he was consistently beating the now-dethroned champion to the punch.

Santa Cruz seemed to get his rhythm in middle rounds and he worked himself back into the fight. Frampton seemed to get his second wind in round ten and he got back to winning the exchanges in close. The two brawled all the way to the finish.

Frampton of Dublin, Ireland won by scores of 117-111, 116-112 and 114-114 and is now 23-0, Santa Cruz is now 32-1-1.

CARL FRAMPTON:
“It’s a dream come true. I had the dream of winning a world title and I won it, but I never thought I’d win in two divisions. It was a tough fight, I wanted tit to be a tough fight because I wanted a fight the people could remember. I respect him a lot. He was a true warrior.

“I had a good game plan. Shane was an unbelievable coach. He told me every time I came back into the corner that we could win this a lot easier. But I won it with my heart, not with my head and I got my hand raised.

“Distance control and hitting hard. I won the fight because I didn’t lose control. I earned his respect early in the fight with my distance control and hard punching. I would love to take this man to Belfast for a rematch and show the people there what a great fighter he is.”

On calling out the other champions at 126 pounds, Frampton said: “I want big, memorable fights.”

LEO SANTA CRUZ:
“It was a tough fight from the beginning. We knew it was going to be a tough fight, but I thought it was close when I’m in there throwing. Maybe the judges were hearing the crowd and thought that every little punch was scoring.

“He has a difficult style, but we know his style and get him in the rematch. The crowd was cheering, and I think the judges saw that. And maybe, without that, we would have had a draw or maybe a decision.

“It’s hard to get your first loss, but now we’ll go back to the gym, we’ll get the rematch and we’ll win. And that loss will mean nothing. I want to have a rematch in Los Angeles, but I’ll go to Belfast too.

Mikey Garcia returned off a 31-month layoff to drop Elio Rojas 4-times en-route to a fifth round stoppage in a scheduled 10-round super lightweight bout

In round two, Garcia dropped Rojas with a left hook to the top of the head. Seconds later, it was a booming right that sent Rojas down face first. He was able to survive that round, but two rounds later, it was deja-vu as a left hook sent Rojas down in the beginning of round five. Rojas then ate a huge right hand that sent him down for a fourth time. He was able to get to his feet, but the fight was stopped at 2:02.

Garcia, 138 lbs of Oxnard, CA is 35-0 with 29 knockouts. Rojas, 139 lbs of the Dominican Republic is 24-3.

MIKEY GARCIA

“Two and a half year layoff sparked a fire in me and motivated me to do the best that I could.

“Elio is a tough guy and a former world champion, he didn’t come for a paycheck, he came to win.

“Elio took advantage of the opportunity. But we trained for a great performance like this and I was thrilled to get the job done. It felt great to be here with a supportive crowd behind me. I’m looking forward to getting back in there and winning another world title.”

ROBERT GARCIA

“I’m happy with his performance. He took a few right hands but it was his first fight back after a long layoff. Elio Rojas is not a nobody. You could tell he was upset about being knocked down. He was the perfect opponent for Mikey’s first fight back in the ring. I actually thought it would go a few more rounds.

ELIO ROJAS

“I was able to get off the canvas because I trained so hard. Mikey is just stronger. I’m a natural 126-pounder fighting above my weight.

“It was a great matchup and Mikey is a great fighter. I have no doubt that he is going to take over the division.

“I was very upset when the fight was stopped. I wanted to keep going because I have a champion’s heart and I never want to quit.”

Tony Harrison ended a dull affair with Sergey Rabchenko with a right hand in round nine that sent Rabchenko to the canvas and the fight was stopped after Rabchenko got to his feet.

The fight was a chess match that Harrison was winning up until final blow at 1:18

Harrison, 153.5 lbs of Detroit is now 24-1 with 20 knockouts. Rabchenko, 153.5 lbs of Minks, Belarus is now 27-2.

TONY HARRISON

“This is definitely my biggest win ever. I’m thankful to my team for getting me ready.

“I was luring him to sleep. I kept jabbing and ended up in the corner. My trainer told me that I would have the right hand behind the jab and that’s what happened.

“I’m a finisher. I had him hurt and I said to the ref ‘you better not let him go.’ I knew I had him beat.

“I told a reporter this week that my biggest flaw is letting the crowd get to me. I was able to block it out tonight and stay focused.

“My camp was great. A focused Tony Harrison can beat anybody at 154-pounds. Now it’s on Jermall Charlo and Julian Williams. I’m in the catbird seat.”

SERGEY RABCHENKO

“I didn’t throw enough punches. I kept relying on my defense and didn’t attack enough. I was looking for one shot and it was difficult to do it against Tony Harrison with one punch.

“The ref did a great job with the stoppage. My health is first and foremost. The health of any fighter is the most important thing. I knew I couldn’t continue.”

Paulie Malignaggi won a 10-round unanimous decision over Gabriel Bracero in a battle of Brooklyn based welterweights.

Scores were 98-92 twice and 96-94 Malignaggi, 146.5 lbs of Brooklyn and is now 36-7. Bracero is 24-3.

PAULIE MALIGNAGGI

“I knew Bracero was a counter-puncher like myself. I was just trying to be the sharper counter-puncher. We both try to set traps and I just wanted to make him earn any points thathe got. At the same time, I felt like I had to earn my points. I dictated the fight with pot shots and stepping over.

“I didn’t want to get desperate. I wanted to force him to get desperate from being behind on the scorecards. I think I did a good job of that.

“As the fight went on, I just used my movement and feints to stay in control. I noticed that every time he picked up his foot, he would have trouble setting his defense back up. I started taking half steps back and once he would come at me I would shoot a jab. It wasn’t super damaging, but it dictated my distance and frustrated him.

“The plan was to keep it simple. If he didn’t adjust to any traps, then I was going to keep using them. I kept it as simple as I could against a guy who if you complicate things, he will catch you. He’s a counter-puncher who can make you pay.

“I’m excited to call the fights tonight. I’m a fan before I’m a fighter. I’m excited to go to work right now.

“I’m going to head to Italy on Tuesday, take a vacation and then think about my future.”

Tevin Farmer won a 10-round unanimous decision over Ivan Redkach in a lightweight fight.

Farmer continuously made Redkach miss and look bad with wild swings, and Farmer was able to slide away and lot pot shots and every so often sit in the pocket and land quick combinations that befuddled Redkach. Redkach was bleeding from around his right eye in round nine. That was the same round where he was deducted a point for a headbutt.

Farmer, 134.5 lbs of Philadelphia won by scores of 99-89 and 98-90 twice to raise his record to 22-4-1. Redkach, 135.2 lbs of Los Angeles is 19-2-1.

TEVIN FARMER

“I’m proud of my performance tonight. I worked hard in camp and my team did a great job getting me ready. I was very confident that I would be victorious as long as I executed the game plan and that’s what I did.

“I want a world title. I’m going to go back to 130-pounds and I feel like I’m ready for a title shot. If I have to fight an eliminator I will. I won’t back down from any challenge.

“I wasn’t worried about the point deductions. The referee does what he has to do. I was winning every round easily.

“I beat him down. I was the more experienced fighter and I came in with more rounds and with better opponents on my resume.”

Amanda Serrano stopped Calista Silgado in the first round to retain the WBO Featherweight title.

Serrano dropped Silgado with a straight left. Seconds later, Serrano finished off Silgado with a combination that was punctuated by a right to the body that sent her to canvas and the fight was stopped at 1:41.

Serrano, 124.4 lbs of Brooklyn is now 29-1-1 with 22 knockouts. Silgado, 125.6 lbs of Tolu, COL is 14-7-3.

In a terrific two-way brawl, Conrad Cummings outlasted Dante Moore in middleweight slugfest.

Moore was deducted a point for spitting out his mouthpiece. The had countless toe-to-toe exchanges until Cummings dropped Moore in the sixth round.

Cummings, 162.4 lbs of Coalisland, IRE won by scores of 59-53 and 58-54 twice and is now 10-0-1. Moore, 161.6 lbs of Cleveland, OH is now 9-2-2.

Josh Taylor stopped Evincii Dixon at the end of round two of their scheduled six-round junior welterweight bout/

Taylor, 142,4 lbs of Edinborogh, Scotland is 6-0 with six knockouts. Dixon, 144.2 lbs of Lancaster, PA is 7-15-1.

Min-Wook Kim took apart Louis Cruz by registering three knockdowns en-route to a first round stoppage in a scheduled eight-round junior welterweight bout.

In round one, Kim dropped Cruz with a right. Seconds later, it was a left that sent Cruz to the Canvas. Just after the ref let the fight continue, a perfect right sent Cruz down for a third and final time at 2:33.

Kim. 139 lbs of Seoul, South Korea is 16-1 with 12 knockouts. Cruz, 139.2 lbs of Bronx, NY is 11-2-1.

Jose Gomez opened up the night by stopping Josh Crespo in the first round of their scheduled six-round featherweight bout.

It was a firefight with Gomez landing hard shots until he dropped Crespo. Crespo got to his feet, but the bout was waved off at 2:31.

Gomez, 125.6 lb of Huntington Park, CA is 8-0 with three knockouts. Crespo, 125 lbs of New Haven, CT is 5-4-3.