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The ‘Jackal’ Carl Frampton cemented his name in the boxing history books by becoming Northern Ireland’s first two weight world champion after his fantastic points win over the previously unbeaten Leo Santa Cruz at the Barclay Centre in Brooklyn New York on Saturday night.
Frampton, 29, boxed a smart intelligent fight to take the judges scores after 12 competitive rounds of action. The fighting man from Tigers Bay who recently gave up his titles at super-bantamweight to move up to take on Santa Cruz at featherweight, became British boxing’s 14th world champion claiming the Mexican’s WBC crown via majority decision.
Frampton dominated the early rounds as he came out of the blocks with a real purpose to impose his will and strength on the contest. He shook Cruz in the second round and the champion realised Frampton was a different proposition to what he had faced to date.
“It’s a dream come true. I had the dream of winning a world title and I won it, but I never thought I’d win in two divisions,” said Frampton who is managed by boxing legend Barry McGuigan and trained by his son Shane McGuigan.
“It was a tough fight, I wanted tit to be a tough fight because I wanted a fight the people could remember. I respect him a lot. He was a true warrior.”
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“I had a good game plan. Shane was an unbelievable coach,” added Frampton after his epic victory.
“He told me every time I came back into the corner that we could win this a lot easier. But I won it with my heart, not with my head and I got my hand raised.”
“Distance control and hitting hard. I won the fight because I didn’t lose control. I earned his respect early in the fight with my distance control and hard punching.”
Frampton who holds big respect for Santa Cruz offered his adversary a rematch and said taking him back to Belfast for a return would be a treat for his home fans to see Cruz in the flesh.
“I would love to take this man to Belfast for a rematch and show the people there what a great fighter he is.”
Here is the full list of current British world champions
1: Tyson Fury – Undisputed heavyweight champion of the world
2: Anthony Joshua – IBF world heavyweight champion
3: Tony Bellew – WBC world cruiserweight champion
4: James DeGale – IBF super-middleweight world champion
5: Billy Joe Saunders – WBO world middleweight champion
6: Liam Smith – WBO world super-welterweight champion
7: Kell Brook – IBF word welterweight champion
8: Ricky Burns – WBA world super-lightweight champion
9: Terry Flanagan – WBO world lightweight champion
10: Anthony Crolla – WBA world lightweight champion
11: Lee Selby – IBF world featherweight champion
12: Jamie McDonnell – WBA world bantamweight champion
13: Lee Haskins – IBF world bantamweight champion
14: Carl Frampton – WBC Featherweight champion
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