Carl Frampton vs. Leo Santa Cruz 2: Undercard Results Recap

Ledaun Barthelemy (12-0) vs. Jesus Aguinaga (5-5-1)

(Featherweight Bout – 4/6 Rounds)

‎After multiple bouts that were jam-packed full of fireworks and drama just before, the energy in the arena down shifted when featherweights Barthelemy and Aguinaga collided in the ring. The reason for the lack of action in comparison to its predecessors was that the Cuban fighter applied a very tactical, and stick-and-move type of approach to his winning effort. He fought smart, he fought slick and he moved even slicker and smarter making his opponent miss big and wide as the rounds rolled on.
The Guantanamo native pawed away at Aguinaga with his jab before letting the over hand shot go and he also slipped in double if not triple jabs when he wasn’t looking to pot-shot his man. His stellar head movement and footwork really showed in the second half of the bout where the Arizona warrior was flat out chasing him across the ring, running into short and sharp counters for his troubles.

RESULTS: Leduan Barthelemy remains undefeated via unanimous decision over Jesus Aguinaga with scores of 59-55, 59-55 and 58-56.

Antonio Santa Cruz (5-2) vs. Victor Torres (2-5-1)

(Bantamweight Bout – 4 Rounds)

Santa ‎Cruz and Torres went to war in an extremely entertaining and action-packed bout that saw very little to no clinches or lapses in action over the course of 12 minutes. Santa Cruz set an incredible pace by coming directly at his man, planting his feet and launching jabs, hooks, crosses and straigt shots galore. To his credit, Torres weathered the storm early and showed a great beard eating some clean right hand punches from his man and returning fire via counter left hooks to the head and body.  The shots from Santa Cruz were perfectly placed as he kept his foe just at the end of his punches.

In the 2nd Round, Torres sent his man to the canvas early off of a short left hook while the two were exchanging in the middle of the ring.The Californian totally changed the momentum of the match by taking over in the offensive department and even though Santa Cruz beat the count, Torres stayed on him to make sure he could take some of his foe’s confidence and steam away. Amazingly, it didn’t seem to slow down Santa Cruz too much as the proud warrior gathered his wits and poured on the pressure once again in the closing minute. Going into Round 3, Santa Cruz really got back to his game plan; walk his foe down and land heavy and with volume. His defense was his offense as he kept his man at the end of his punches ripping away with looping left hands and right hands for this round and the majority of Round 4. As they banged it out along the ropes in the final 30 seconds, the action finally slowed as they exchanged hard hooks to the body but still threw some big bombs just before the match came to an end.

RESULTS: Antonio Santa Cruz defeats Victor Torres via Unanimous Decision with scores of ‎38-37, 38-37 and 38-37.

Jerry Perez (1-0) vs. Javier Cepeda (0-5)

(‎Featherweight Bout – 4 Rounds)

In a battle of featherweights, Perez made the best professional debut possible tonight by way of a 1st Round stoppage of New Mexico’s Cepeda. Both men started off fast throwing big blows at close range. However, the heavier handed fighter was Perez as his punches connected forcing his foe to step backwards and cover up. Perez closed in on his man as he trapped him along the ropes and found the game changing shot; a beautiful right hook to the body did the trick forcing Cepeda to bend down taking a knee. He got up and fought on then a sneaky Perez left hook to the chin dropped him fast and hard along the same ropes. ‎Cepeda beat the count and marched on deciding to go out on his shield, temporarily backing up along the ropes before launching some punches in hopes to land something big but came up just short. ‘El Morenito’ Perez landed another clean combo and follow up left hook that sent his man stumbling sideways along the canvas as referee Jay Nady stepped in to waive it off‎.

RESULTS: ‎ Jerry ‘El Morenito’ Perez defeats Javier Cepeda via 1st Round TKO.

Herbert Acevedo (13-2) vs‎. Chris Singleton (17-4-2)

(Welterweight Bout – 6 Rounds)

Kicking off the night from inside the world famous MGM Grand Garden Arena in the MGM Grand hotel and casino were 147ers; Acevedo and Singleton. Both men applied a sort of ‘catch and release’‎ type of offense for the first couple of rounds. They would trade big, loopy shots in middle of the ring and then tie up only to release and back up just before referee Vic Drakulich separated them.  Acevedo walked his man down to the corner of the ring in the second stanza then the two men traded combinations but, as it happened their feet tangled up causing Singleton to slip and fall backwards with a few seconds left in Round 2. The fall to the canvas was ruled a knock down even though Singleton contested that he tripped but due to their being punches landed during the exchange, the extra point went to Acevedo.

From there he turned it on, ‘Hurricane’ found his rhythm and was coming forward stepping into his jab and bending over to reach in with some follow up crosses and straights. Singleton fought primarily on his back foot searching for a big counter shot but couldn’t find it. In the final rounds ‘Hurricane’ found a home for his ‎right hand and rarely missed taking advantage of his foe’s low guard as Singleton pulled away with his hands almost by his waist.

RESULTS: Herbert Acevedo defeats Chris Singleton via unanimous decision with scores of 59-54, 59-54 and 59-54