The featherweight championship clash between defending titlist Leo Santa Cruz and undefeated former unified super bantamweight champ Carl Frampton features an unpredictable and potentially explosive mix of styles between two of the world’s top fighters.
Santa Cruz (32-0-1, 18 KOs) will make the second defense of his WBA Featherweight Title against Irish superstar Frampton (22-0, 14 KOs), who relinquished two belts at 122 pounds, when they face off in the main event of a SHOWTIME CHAMPIONSHIP BOXING® tripleheader on Saturday, July 30, live on SHOWTIME (9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT) from Barclays Center in Brooklyn.
Three-division world champion Santa Cruz ranks as one of the world’s top-three fighters in four key categories – Total Punches Thrown, Landed, Connect Percentage and Power Punches Landed (all per round, per CompuBox).
The numbers prove that Santa Cruz is one of the best punchers in the world, topping Gennady Golovkin, Manny Pacquiao and ranking only second by a small margin to pound-for-pound champ Roman “Chocolatito” Gonzalez in Power Punches Landed Per Round.
More impressively, Santa Cruz ranks as the world’s best in the Plus/Minus category that was dominated for years by pound-for-pound champ Floyd Mayweather. In that statistical measure, which is determined by subtracting opponents connect percentage from a fighter’s connect percentage, Santa Cruz stands tall at No. 1 (+15.8% per fight), followed by Andre Ward (+15.3), Golovkin (+15.2), Erislandy Lara (+14.5), Terence Crawford (+13.2), Roman Gonzalez (+12.5) and Canelo Alvarez (+12).
While Santa Cruz is a statistical leader in five key categories, defending Santa Cruz’s biggest strength – power punches – is one of Frampton’s greatest attributes. In his last six fights, Frampton’s opponents landed just 29.2 percent of their power punches. Comparatively, Santa Cruz landed an astonishing 46.9 percent of his power shots over his last eight fights. Can both fighters continue at this impressive rate when they faceoff on July 30?
Frampton ranks in the top 10 of Opponents Power Punches Connected, meaning he stops his opponents from landing power shots at a staggering rate. Frampton ranks No. 10 in a group that features Guillermo Rigondeaux, Lara, Wladimir Klitschko, Ward and Crawford.
Additionally, Frampton is the second best in the world in Average Number Of Jabs Thrown Per Round, behind leader Jesus Cuellar and well ahead of Rigondeaux (No. 5), Golovkin (No. 6), Crawford (No. 7) and Kell Brook (No. 8). Santa Cruz is also a statistical leader in this category, ranking No. 9 in the world.
Below is the list of categories where Santa Cruz and Frampton excel:
PLUS/MINUS (hit vs. get hit):
Santa Cruz ranks as the world’s best, followed by Andre Ward (No. 2), Gennady Golovkin (No. 3), Erislandy Lara (No. 4), Terence Crawford (No. 5), Roman Gonzalez (No. 6) and Canelo Alvarez (No. 7). The retired Floyd Mayweather had previously held the top spot.
TOTAL PUNCHES THROWN PER ROUND:
Leo Santa Cruz only trails Roman Gonzalez in terms of total punches thrown per round. Santa Cruz (No. 2) tops Jesus Ceullar (No. 3), Juan Francisco Estrada (No. 6), Orlando Salido (No. 7) and Gennady Golovkin (No. 9). Santa Cruz throws 84.6 total punches per round, compared to boxing’s overall average of 55.5.
AVERAGE TOTAL PUNCHES LANDED PER ROUND:
Santa Cruz trails Roman Gonzalez by less than two percent, connecting at a 33.1 percent clip compared to the overall average of 16.9. At No. 2, Santa Cruz tops pound-for-pound mainstays Gennady Golovkin (No. 3) and Juan Francisco Estrada (No. 4). Santa Cruz’s average more than doubles the CompuBox average punches landed per round of 16.9.
TOTAL CONNECT PERCENTAGE:
Santa Cruz ranks in the top three in this important category in which only a few percentage points separate the world’s best. Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. ranks No. 1, followed by Golovkin, Santa Cruz, Roman Gonzalez, Adrien Broner and Andre Ward respectively. At 39.2 percent, Santa Cruz landed at a nearly 10 percent higher rate than the overall average.
AVERAGE POWER PUNCHES LANDED PER ROUND:
Santa Cruz is second in the world in this category, trailing only Roman Gonzalez by a slim margin and topping Juan Francisco Estrada (No. 3), Abner Mares (No. 5), Golovkin (No. 7) and Pacquiao (No. 8) among others.
AVERAGE JABS THROWN PER ROUND:
Santa Cruz and Frampton both rank in the top 10 in average number of jabs thrown per round.
Frampton, who is second in the world behind leader Jesus Cuellar, tops master jabbers Rigondeaux (No. 5), Golovkin (No. 6), Crawford (No. 7) and Brook (No. 8). Santa Cruz is ninth best in this category. Frampton, who trails Cuellar by just one percentage point, throws 13 more jabs per round than the overall average.
OPPONENTS POWER PUNCHES CONNECTED:
Frampton is amongst the world’s best at preventing his opponent from landing power shots. He ranks at No. 10 in a category that includes Rigondeaux (No. 1), Lara (No. 2), Wladimir Klitschko (No. 3), Ward (No. 4) and Crawford (No. 5). Frampton’s opponents landed just 29.2 percent of their power shots.
