Carl Frampton counting the cost of Las Vegas gamble

Sunday dawns slow in Las Vegas. As Carl Frampton hauled himself out of bed in his private loft at the MGM Grand yesterday, the morning after the night before would have brought only light relief.

The Belfast featherweight had started his first ever headline fight week here by saying he felt “out of place2 amid the faux-grandiose fittings of the strip. On Saturday night at the megacasino’s Garden Arena, however, he again proved he fits right in on the most blisteringly brilliant fighting nights at the Mecca of boxing. It’s just that Leo Santa Cruz fits even better.

Losing the first fight of your professional life is a jarring, humbling experience, even for this most humble of competitors. Losing his WBA world title at the first time of asking so soon after being almost unanimously crowned as the fighter of last year hurt, hurt more than any of the stinging Santa Cruz jabs that had kept Belfast’s tiger at bay.