Daddy Issues: Santa Cruz v Frampton Belfast rematch looks unlikely

Léo Santa Cruz [33(18)-1(0)-1] claims he would love to fight Carl Frampton in Belfast next, but has stressed that it is not his decision to make.

Indeed he revealed that his influential father is currently against such a fight, and that José will have the final say in the matter.

The Los Angeles-based fighter reclaimed the WBA featherweight title from Frampton [23(14)-1(0)] following a majority decision win in their rematch in Las Vegas last month. ‘The Jackal’ has repeatedly said in the aftermath that a third fight should take place on this side of the Atlantic as he travelled for the first two bouts, and indeed because Santa Cruz gave him his word that a third fight would happen in Belfast. Unfortunately, this looks like it may not be the case.

Santa Cruz told Villainfy Media that “if it was up to me, I would fight him over there [Belfast] right now.”

However, according to the Mexican-American, it is not as simple as that, and he explained how “I have to talk to my team, my manager, because I can’t just say ‘oh I’m going to go [to Belfast],’ I can’t make that decision. If it was up to me, or if my coach tells me ‘do you want to fight over there?’ I would say ‘yes, I want to fight over there.'”

“It’s not up to me, it’s up to my promoter, the team. Hopefully, I’m going to push for it, and if it were up to me I’d go fight him over there.”

Santa Cruz revealed that a major stumbling block to a Titanic City showdown is the belief of his father that they would get robbed were they to travel to Frampton’s home town.

‘El Terremoto’ described how “my dad is scared that if I go over there, and even if I beat Carl Frampton, the people and the judges are going to be an influence. No matter if I beat him, he thinks that even if I beat him I’ll have the victory taken away from me.”

“My dad says not to go over there, because going over there would be a really bad decision and, you know, he is right and everything but if I go over there and I get the win and beat him, for all the fans to see that I win, that’s all that matters. Hopefully they see that I win and they give me that.”

Confirming that his father’s approval is crucial, Santa Cruz said that “it’s very important, he’s my father, he’s been there my whole life, my whole career.”

“I always listen to my dad. If he says no, I wouldn’t go there. I do whatever he tells me to do.”

Watch Léo Santa Cruz’s interview with Villainfy Media below:

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