Frampton tops Santa Cruz for WBA super featherweight title

FILE – In this Saturday, Feb. 28, 2015 file photo, world champion Carl Frampton celebrates with after defeating Chris Avalos of the U.S. during the IBF super bantamweight world boxing title fight at the Odyssey arena, Belfast, Northern Ireland. With British fighters holding 13 versions of world titles, the country’s boxing scene is booming and two of those champions face off on Saturday, Feb. 27, 2016 in a matchup that has been in the making for years. Scott Quigg and Carl Frampton, unbeaten boxers holding the WBA and IBF belts respectively, fight in Manchester to unify super-bantamweight titles. It’s only the third all-British unification fight in the last 23 years. AP

NEW YORK — Carl Frampton unanimously outpointed previously undefeated champion Leo Santa Cruz on Saturday night to add the WBA super featherweight title to his super bantamweight crown.

Frampton, from Northern Ireland, improved to 23-0. Santa Cruz, from Mexico, dropped to 32-1-1.

At the end of the second round, both fighters received a sustained, roaring ovation from the crowd of 9,062 at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center. Santa Cruz and Frampton took turns landing heavy shots in the round, and continued to alternate exchanges for the remainder of the fight.

But despite the ferociousness of the flurries, neither fighter was able to knock down the other.

On the undercard, Mikey Garcia (35-0) dominated Elio Rojas (24-3) in a super lightweight bout, winning via technical knockout at 2:02 of the fifth round.

“We trained for a great performance like this and I was thrilled to get the job done,” Garcia said. “I’m looking forward to getting back in there and winning another world title.”

Garcia twice knocked Rojas down for standing eight counts in the third round, and dropped his rival again in the fourth and fifth before landing the decisive shot.

To open the main card, Tony Harrison knocked out Sergey Rabchenko with a right at 1:19 of the ninth round. He improved to 24-1 with 20 knockouts. The loss was the second in 29 fights for Rabchenko.

“I’m a finisher,” Harrison said. “I had him hurt and I said to (referee Arthur Mercante), ‘You better not let him go.’ I knew I had him beat.”/rga