Photo credit
Andy Samuelson / Premier Boxing Champions
Saturday, July 30th –
For the second consecutive time, Brooklyn’s Barclay Center hosted an outstanding fight card. More amazing than that, the main bout Saturday night made one ask, “Keith who?” Last month, Keith Thurman narrowly beat Shawn Porter after battling it out for 12 grueling rounds for what was undoubtedly Fight of the Year. However, that is no longer true, as one of the best pound-for-pound fighters in the world, undefeated 3-division champion Leo Santa Cruz went toe-to-toe with undefeated 2-division champion Carl Frampton for most of their 12-round affair… and lost!
Ladies and gentlemen, straight out of Belfast in Northern Ireland, I give you the NEW WBA Featherweight Champion of the World, Carl “The Jackal” Frampton. Judges scored the bout 114-114, 116-112, & 117-111. Santa Cruz (32-1-1, 18 KOs) put on a great show, throwing over 1000 punches in the end. However, his total connected shots were just shy of that of Frampton (23-0, 14 KOs). There were several things Santa Cruz did wrong in the first half of the fight, and it just took too long for him to correct those mistakes. It appeared Leo won the second half of the fight, but Carl took too large of a lead early that couldn’t be overcome without a knockdown.
There is no doubt in my mind that these guys will do this again, this time perhaps in Belfast. If Belfast is not an option, then why not London’s O2 Arena, where some of the sports’ greatest fights – and upsets – have come in recent years, including the changing of the guard bout when Wladimir Klitschko relinquished his belts to Tyson Fury late last year. Wherever it is, expect much of the same intensity next time around.
Prior to the main event, we saw the return of undefeated, 2-division champion Mikey Garcia (35-0, 29 KOs), who stepped back into the ring after 2 1/2 long years due to a contract dispute with Top Rank Promotions. Garcia stopped former WBC Featherweight champion Elio Rojas (24-3, 14 KOs) 5 rounds into their scheduled 10-round Jr. Welterweight bout. It’s safe to say that ring rust played no part in this fight and Garcia is back as a force at 140. Look for him again very soon, this time taking on one of the more elite fighters in the division.
Another winner earlier in the night was Brooklyn’s own Paulie Malignaggi (36-7) who beat cross-town rival Gabriel Bracero (24-3) by unanimous decision after a 10-round bout. After having lost 3 of his last 4 fights, Paulie ultimately retired last year during an in-ring post-fight interview after a one-sided loss to former unified Jr. Welterweight Champion and current WBC Welterweight Champion Danny Garcia (32-0, 18 KOs). Since then, he has come back to win three straight with the last two opponents having a combined record of 44-4-1. As Paulie still has quick hands and always seems to put on a show, I’m glad he decided to lace them back up again.
Just one night earlier, Adonis Stevenson (28-1, 23 KOs) retained his lineal Light Heavyweight title when he defended the WBC belt in astonishing fashion. For 4 big rounds, he slugged it out with one of the top contenders in the division in Thomas “Top Dog” Williams, Jr. (20-2, 14 KOs). “Top Dog” as you may remember knocked out then #1 contender Edwin Rodriguez earlier this year to become the mandatory for Stevenson’s WBC belt. Williams landed some devastating shots to the head of the champ during several moments, but it was the left hook landed by “Superman” that ended the night and put Stevenson one step closer to meeting up with the winner of the Sergey Kovalev-André Ward bout scheduled for November.
Michael J. Feinberg
The Fighing News Reporter
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