Santa Cruz promises immediate rematch should he defeat Carl Frampton on Saturday
Leo Santa Cruz [32(18)-1(0)-1] is confident of victory in his rematch with Carl Frampton [23(14)-0] on Saturday night in Las Vegas.
However, while this would grant him revenge, in his mind it would only level the scores, and the Mexican-American wants a third fight, immediately after Saturday’s clash.
The pair will rematch for Frampton’s WBA featherweight title at the MGM Grand Garden Arena, live on Showtime and Sky Sports. The clash comes after their initial Fight of the Year contender in New York last Summer, in which Frampton surprised many observers by defeating Santa Cruz at the Barclays Centre.
Refreshingly, both agreed to an immediate rematch in Las Vegas – and Santa Cruz intends to grant the Belfast man a third, and what he believe will be deciding, fight following this weekend’s tussle.
Speaking yesterday at the open workout, the California-based former champion reiterated his desire for a historic trilogy, outlining how “hopefully, I get the win in this rematch and I’ll be happy to make the third fight and it will be like Barrera-Molares – maybe not as great, but we could be mentioned up there.”
“Maybe in ten years from now, twenty years, people will still be talking about the fight and that it was a great rivalry.”
‘El Terremoto’ feels that, should he win, any rubber match would come immediately next. He described how “I think so [there would be an immediate rematch]. The truth is that I don’t know if it’s in the contract but if I get the win, and they want the rematch right away, I’ll be happy to give it to them.”
This raises the possibility of a third fight in Belfast, something which Santa Cruz spoke of last year when he came to the Titanic City. The three-weight world champion didn’t dismiss the idea, noting how “a champion will go anywhere, no matter where it is. If you train hard and do everything you have to do, you can fight anywhere.”
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Eric Donovan joins Gavan Casey and Joe O’Neill on Episode 2 of the Irish Boxing Show:
