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Frampton v Santa Cruz II – Undercard Results

The undercard for Carl Frampton v Leo Santa Cruz II has just concluded at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, with some top talent on display.

At the time of writing, eight bouts had been completed, with just co-main event Dejan Zlatican v Mikey Garcia for the WBC 135lbs title and Frampton v Santa Cruz remaining.

Opening the card, welterweight Herbert Acevedo [12(6)-2(0)] outscored Chris Singleton [17(8)-3(2)-2] over six, scoring a debatable knockdown in the first and prevailing (59-54 x3) on the cards.

18 year old featherweight prospect Jerry Perez [3(1)-0] knocked Javier Cepeda [0-5(1)] down thrice in the opening round to score an early stoppage, the first of his career.

Santa Cruz’s cousin, Antonio also featured on the card, and moved to 5(2)-2(0) with a narrow 38:27 x3 win over fellow bantamweight Victor Torres [2(1)-5(0)-1], surviving a count in the second round.

Rising Cuban featherweight Ledaun Barthelemy [12(6)-0] grabbed a hard-fought win over Jesus Aguinaga [5(0)-5(0)-1] with the scorecards reading (59-55 x 2, 58-56).

Frampton’s Scottish stablemate Josh Taylor [8(7)-0] was brought the distance for the first time in his career, going eight with game Mexican Alfonso Olvea [8(3)-3(0)-1] in a light welterweight contest. The Tartan Tornado was forced to battle adversary for the first time in his career, having a point deducted in what was a competitive contest which he took on the cards (79:72, 78:73 x2).

Hot super middleweight prospect David Benavidez moved to 17(16)-0 with a two-round demolition of Uzbek Sherali Mamajonov [14(7)-2(1)], flooring the Asian in both rounds to see the bout waved off.

The final fight of the undercard saw Ukrainian Ivan Redkach [20(16)-2(1)-1] get back to winning ways following his loss to Tevin Farmer on the previous Frampton-Santa Cruz undercard. The Santa Cruz stablemate stopped Louisiana lightweight Desmond Brock [13(4)-4(3)-1] in the eighth and final round of their bout.

Eric Donovan joins Gavan Casey and Joe O’Neill on Episode 2 of the Irish Boxing Show:

Joe O'Neill

Reporting on Irish boxing the past five years. Work has appeared on irish-boxing.com, Boxing News, the42.ie, and local and national media. Provide live ringside updates, occasional interviews, and special features on the future of Irish boxing. email: joneill6@tcd.ie

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