The Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York hosts WBA “Super World” featherweight champion Leo Santa Cruz’ second title defense as he faces England’s undefeated Carl Frampton (22-0). Frampton, who goes by the nickname of “The Javkal” is moving up in wight class and vacating multiple world titles at super bantamweight for this chance to face Santa Cruz. Santa Cruz enters the fight the betting favorite, as he is the bigger and longer of the two men and he has the higher quality of opposition on his resume. In his last outing, Santa Cruz made short work of Spain’s Kiko Martinez, who Frampton has fought twice against and gone a total of 21 rounds with. Santa Cruz has been a world title holder since January of 2012 and he has progressed from bantamweight to super bantamweight and now to featherweight without taking a loss. In winning the featherweight title, he defeated tough multi-divisional world champion Abner Mares in a war. That is the kind of resume Frampton wants, andwith a win here the Brit will add a world title in a second weight class to his resume. In his last outing he defeated rival Scott Quigg, but that fight was a letdown after all the hype between the two men, and many observers feel if the fight had been scheduled for fifteen rounds Frampton would have lost as he was fading at the end and won because he banked the early rounds where Quigg’s offense consisted of making mean faces. Featherweight 12 rounds – Carl Frampton +240 Leo Santa Cruz -280 The 140 pound bout between Mikey Garcia (34-0) and Elio Rojas (24-2) is creating a buzz, mainly because it is the highly regarded Garcia’s first fight in two years. Garca is still just 29 years old, and before his layoff, he was one of the top fighters in the weight class. This fight will show everyone how far off from top form he may be after the time off. Cruz is a former WBC world featherweight champion, but he has been less active than Garcia, fighting just once in the last four years. Super Lightweight 10 rounds – Elio Rojas +1300 Mikey Garcia -2575 The rest of the card could see numbers pop up later in the week as the fights get closer. WBA world middleweight champion daniel Jacobs is scheduled to defend his belt, though an opponent has not been officially named. The card also features Brooklyn’s own Paulie Malignaggi (35-7) as he takes on Gabriel Bracero (24-2) in what could be his farewell bout and a female world title bout in the featherweight division is also scheduled as Amanda Serrano (28-1-1) faces Calixta Silgado (14-6-3).
