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
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.
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
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
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.
