Carl Frampton – “I hurt him clearly… and he knows that, that’s in his head.”

WBA featherweight champion Carl Frampton [23(14)-0] believes that his punching power is at the forefront of Leo Santa Cruz’s mind ahead of their rematch in Las Vegas next year, and ‘The Jackal’ has promised to hurt the Mexican-American even more next time round.

During their first tussle at the Barclays Centre in July, Frampton sent ‘El Terremoto’ careening into the ropes in the second round and, going by the letter of the law, should have been awarded a knockdown as it was the ropes and the ropes alone which kept Santa Cruz [32(18)-1(0)-1] up.

Frampton feels he hurt Santa Cruz repeatedly during the win in New York, and outlined how he plans to inflict even more damage at the MGM Grand on January 28th.

Speaking today at the press conference in the Europa Hotel to kick off the two-city tour, Frampton described how “I hurt him clearly, visibly, in the second round, and I believe I stiffened his legs a couple of times throughout the fight, and he knows that, that’s in his head.”

“I believe, if I’m smarter, I can win more convincingly but also hurt him more. I was throwing shots, lots of shots, when I could’ve been maybe putting more power into single shots.”

The Tigers Bay 29 year old also noted how he was well able to handle the power that Santa Cruz brought in return. Frampton recalled how “when he was throwing punches he was throwing them from out of range, and that’s because he was fearful of getting hit, as I hurt him so early in the fight, and that was the plan.”

“He didn’t hurt me in the fight and he’s got reasonable power but I walked through anything he had.”

“I was much more comfortable at featherweight and I feel that I am going to be even more comfortable again this time. I didn’t know what to expect in my first fight, how I was going to last the rounds, but now I know I can do it.”