Carl Frampton ready to raise game against Leo Santa Cruz
Wednesday 6 July 2016 10:16, UK
Carl Frampton knows he will need to up his game to relieve Leo Santa Cruz of the WBA 'Super' featherweight title on July 30.
The Northern Irishman (22-0-KO14) travels to New York to take on Mexico's Santa Cruz (32-0-1-KO18) and is determined to better his debut on American soil, which saw him recover from a first-round knock-down to beat Alejandro Gonzalez Jr in July 2015.
Frampton, 29, told ESPN: "I need to show the American crowd what I'm capable of.
Everything was just too laid back before I fought Gonzalez, I took it for granted a bit.
"I'm better than that, I'm a better fighter than I looked in the first round when Gonzalez put me down twice. It was disastrous but I came back and boxed quite well after that and won on points comfortably.
"That was me at 70 percent and I really need to be at my best to beat Santa Cruz because he's the best fighter I've come up against.
"There was a wee bit of a relaxed atmosphere before I fought Gonzalez. I thought it was going to be easy, the heat wasn't great either and I boxed in the afternoon, so there was less time to recover from making the weight, which I found hard to do.
"The canvas was very soft, like a mattress, but I've learned from those mistakes and I won't let that happen again.
"I'm boxing on the east coast this time so it will be different and I was only out for eight days before the last fight, but I'm going out sooner for this one.
"Everything was just too laid back before I fought Gonzalez, I took it for granted a bit. Being in that mindset didn't do making the weight any favours.
"I felt like I was constantly dehydrated and I kept gorging on water. Things were wrong but this time we will be out for four weeks before and I'm going into the fight as the underdog and will be doing things different."
Frampton will be making the step up from super-bantamweight, where he vacated his IBF and WBA world titles in the wake of beating Scott Quigg.
Santa Cruz, meanwhile, previously held world titles at bantamweight and super-bantamweight. He stepped to featherweight in May 2015 and went on to outpoint fellow Mexican Abner Mares to claim the crown he currently holds.
