Carl Frampton will be frustrated with himself after losing to Leo Santa Cruz, says Johnny Nelson

By Johnny Nelson, Boxing Expert & Columnist

Image: Carl Frampton endured the first defeat of his professional career

Carl Frampton will know where he went wrong after suffering points defeat to Leo Santa Cruz in their Las Vegas rematch, says Johnny Nelson.

It was a really exciting fight. At one point, I thought Carl was waiting to step it up in the second half of the fight.

Carl was struggling to get inside the long reach of Santa Cruz, so what he had to do was try to have a dogfight. But Santa Cruz stuck to his game plan, tried to box him long, and not get involved in an argument when he shouldn't have one - and that's what got him ahead.

Image: Santa Cruz set up a third fight after avenging his loss to Frampton last July

At one point Santa Cruz seemed a little flat and that's when I thought Carl would take over, but then towards the end it was Carl that looked a little flat, Carl that was struggling to step up, to squeeze him down, and put the pressure on him.

It's hard because he knows what worked for him in the first fight. He knows what he left out in the second fight.
Johnny Nelson

Every round seemed to be exactly the same from Carl and he just couldn't manage to turn it around.

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I also think that Carl knew that Santa Cruz couldn't hurt him, so there was no respect for what Santa Cruz threw. He was just walking into him, trying to put him under pressure, instead of just being a little cautious.

Carl Frampton and Leo Santa Cruz produced another fight of the year contender, have a look at some of the highlights. The full fight is available on Demand

It's hard because he knows what worked for him in the first fight. He knows what he left out in the second fight. Santa Cruz is capable of having a fight with him and that doesn't suit Santa Cruz and he's capable of boxing him, that does suit Santa Cruz.

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Carl has got to be prepared to be able to switch tactics mid-fight, to see what Santa Cruz he has got in front of him. If he's going to box him, he must box him sharp, if he's going to fight him, he will box-fight.

Unfortunately, he was stuck in a rut where he just wanted to fight. It was stuck in his head. I think that's because he's very comfortable and very strong at the weight and knew Santa Cruz couldn't hurt him.

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