Leo Santa Cruz has the biggest boxing fight of his career against Carl Frampton tonight and Santa Cruz even hinted at retirement if he loses to Frampton again.
In the final press conference promoting the fight, Santa Cruz went into detail about the stakes involved against Frampton, who defeated Santa Cruz last summer to win the WBA "super" featherweight world title.
"Us fighters, our pride is to be the best. We don’t want nobody else to be better than us. If Carl Frampton beat me two times already, it shows that he’s a better fighter than me. So my pride and the reason I’m here is to show that I’m the best. Maybe, if he beats me, there will be no point to be here. I’ll probably leave it to the fans. If the fans want to continue seeing me fighting, if they give me the support, I’ll probably continue to fight. But if not, I’ll see. I’m going to have to see about it and what happens. I know another loss against Carl Frampton, it could be the end of my career. Every fighter fights to be the best. I want to come out here and be the best. And if Carl Frampton beats me, I think maybe, you know I don’t want to say it but maybe I’d retire. But I’ll come really prepared to get the win and will leave everything in the ring to get it."
The loss was Santa Cruz's first of his professional career and had been holding the WBA title since August 2015. For Frampton, the win against Santa Cruz was the second weight class where he would win a world title. The two men will headline a Showtime Championship Boxing card in Las Vegas, Nevada on January 28.
Credit to Boxing News Online for the transcript.
