By Keith Idec

Based on early feedback he has received, Carl Frampton doesn’t get the feeling Leo Santa Cruz is going to fight him next, certainly not in Belfast.

In his weekly column for the Belfast Telegraph, Frampton wrote for Sunday’s editions that Santa Cruz wants to fight someone other than him before considering a rubber match and that Santa Cruz doesn’t want to fight Frampton in Frampton’s hometown. Santa Cruz said in the immediate aftermath of his victory over Frampton on January 28 in Las Vegas that he would give Frampton an opportunity to avenge his loss in their rematch by traveling to Frampton’s native Belfast for their third fight.

“Leo Santa Cruz is a great guy,” Frampton wrote in his column. “The two of us have shown each other respect in two great fights, but I feel he will lose some respect if he doesn’t honor his word and fight me in Belfast this summer.

“I’ve fought Leo twice now in the States. New York for the first fight was a neutral venue, but Las Vegas was not a neutral venue. You can drive from Los Angeles to it and he had plenty of Mexican support. That’s what champions do. They travel. So now it’s Leo’s turn to travel.”

Northern Ireland’s Frampton (23-1, 14 KOs) beat Santa Cruz (33-1-1, 18 KOs) by majority decision in their first fight to win the WBA world featherweight title July 30 at Barclays Center in Brooklyn. Santa Cruz, of Rosemead, California, won that title back when the Mexican-American fighter defeated Frampton by majority decision nine days ago at MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.

Three of Frampton’s past four fights have taken place in the United States. Whomever he fights next, the former two-division champion wants the bout to take place in Belfast.

“My team are now working on the third fight [with Santa Cruz],” Frampton wrote. “They’re in negotiations and whatever happens, my next fight will be in Belfast. I’ve been on the road for a long time and my fans, many who can’t afford to travel, deserve the chance to see me fight at home.”

Frampton hopes his homecoming is a rubber match with Santa Cruz, though he’s not quite as optimistic about that happening as he was when he left Las Vegas last week.

“I hope he keeps his word,” Frampton wrote, “but the early noises suggest he won’t be coming [to Belfast] and that he wants to have a fight before we meet again. We are looked after by the same American adviser, Al Haymon, so I hope that a deal can be struck for the fight to happen at Windsor Park. What a stage to get the belt back.”

Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for krikya360.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.