Santa Cruz is brave, not like Quigg says McGuigan
It will be more like a game of Call Of Duty than Chess when Leo Santa Cruz puts his title on the line against Carl Frampton on the last Saturday of this month suggests Barry McGuigan.
Unlike Scott Quigg, who Frampton beat in a massive PPV clash in February, Leo Santa Cruz will come all guns blazing and, as a result, the bout has the potential to be a war rather than a tactical battle.
Many fight fans have claimed the build up to Frampton versus Quigg eclipsed the fight itself, as Quigg started snail slow, while ‘The Jackal’ stuck to the ‘do only what is needed to win the rounds’ gameplan.
McGuigan, whose confidence of a Frampton win over Santa Cruz is backed up by the fact the Hall Of Fame Irish legend has been keen to pit the pair against each other for over three years, seems to agree and admits while the Quigg grudge match put bums on seats, it did little to get them off them over 12 rounds.
However, the former featherweight World champ believes July 30th and Frampton versus three-weight World champion Santa Cruz will be different entirely. He expects the title holder to continue his brave fan friendly approach and as a result draw the best out of his charge.
“After Carl defeated Scott Quigg and became a unified champion at 122 pounds, we believe that all of the exciting fights in that division have passed. We want to be involved in exciting fights,” McGuigan said in America this week.
“The Quigg fight wasn’t as exciting as we would have liked, but we knew it was going to be like that. We knew he’d come on late in the fight and we had our tactics planned well.”
“This is going to be a much better fight because Santa Cruz is brave and takes chances. He also has underrated boxing skills.”
While he isn’t expecting a massive tactical stand off, McGuigan does admit his son and Frampton trainer Shane McGuigan has a number of game plans in place for the Beflast superstar.
“Shane is making Carl a better fighter every day. Every day that you don’t get better is a day you wasted. Carl is in the best physical shape of his career and we will have a plan A, B and C for this fight.”
The Clones Cyclone also admits that Santa Cruz represents the toughest test of Frampton’s career to date.
“Santa Cruz is a great fighter. He’s low-key, humble and he hasn’t talked trash. This will be Carl’s hardest fight. It feels great to be involved helping Carl reach his maximum potential, it’s the second best thing to being in the ring yourself.”
“We believe 100 percent in Frampton’s ability to win this fight and that he will be successful on fight night.”
Photo Credit: Ricardo Guglielminotti – The Fighting Irish (@ThefIrish)
