Leo Santa Cruz, Carl Frampton keyed up for rematch

CBS Sports agreed with the dissenting judge, Guido Cavalleri, and scored it 114-114.

“It was really hard”, said Leo Santa Cruz, 28. That could be more hard this time because Santa Cruz’s motivation is through the roof. I feel like I’m getting better all the time.

“I think the sky’s the limit for him”. “I believe that if I hit anyone in these weight divisions clean on the chin, they can go down and out”. The only thing is that I don’t have that 0.

“I think Carl’s reflexes are way too quick and I don’t think Santa Cruz can stay too far out because I think if he does, Carl will pick him off and Carl will come out on top again”. Doing that will be like erasing that first loss.

“I felt I let the fans down, people that were counting on me, that were betting on me”. It a matter of time.

“Carl is a great fighter with great skills”. I want to bring my heart to the ring and entertain the fans. I go and have a pint with these guys after the fight and they seem to like it.

“I thought he was going to come and brawl with me”, Santa Cruz said. So much so that the 29-year-old Belfast pugilist holds the same WBA world featherweight belt that McGuigan famously won against Panama’s Eusebio Pedroza in Loftus Road more than three decades ago.

He said: “I’m excited. I’m more happy with everything and I’m able to put a bit more into the sessions now but I can eat more”. He’s aggressive, he throws a lot of punches, he tries to overwhelm his opponents, and I think he’s going to try it again. Garcia will be trying to win a world title in his third weight class. But to actually go and win it is a huge honor and I’m very proud.

There about about 200 Frampton fans in full voice at “ringside” for the temporary erection in the MGM Grand.

Mexico’s Vargas is expected to be honored by a second-consecutive fight-of-the-year award by the Boxing Writers Assn. of America for his June 4 draw with countryman Orlando Salido.

Frampton is No. 1 in the same rankings.

Frampton battered Santa Cruz last summer in their first meeting, but he didn’t bury him.

Like Frampton, it is Selby’s first fight in Sin City and it has been a remarkable rise for the fighter who was given little chance of becoming a star when he turned professional.

World champions Carl Frampton and Lee Selby are on collision course if both come through their tough assignments in Las Vegas on Saturday night.

“It concerns me Trump talks about wanting to kick out all Mexicans, the Latin people and the immigrants”, Santa Cruz said.

“I think it’s going to take up where it left off”. “He manages to get his feet in and just get out of way of the shots enough so that he is still in range to land his counter punches”.

How does Santa Cruz win?

Frampton echoes Selby. “You could make a case for the featherweight division being the strongest division in the world at the moment”, he reasoned.

But he knew that for Frampton to become what he might as a boxer and as a star, he had to fight in the U.S. If it works, he’ll find more success.

Frampton (23-0, 14 KOs), of Northern Ireland, is not uncaring about what Leo Santa Cruz endured for their first fight. I look at him and see myself. Look for him to employ the same strategy as the initial go-round, using the same speed and movement to offset Santa Cruz’s smothering pressure and consistently win exchanges.