Léo Santa Cruz vs. Carl Frampton, billed as Battle of the Champions, was a professional boxing match contested on 30 July 2016, for the WBA featherweight championship.

[2] On 22 April 2016 negotiations were complete for Santa Cruz to make the second defence of his WBA featherweight title against IBF super bantamweight champion Carl Frampton on 30 July at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York U.S.[3][4] Frampton's manager Barry McGuigan had held the same title between June 1985 and June 1986.

Frampton had unified the super bantamweight division in February against Scott Quigg, however after WBA ordered him to face "champion in recess" Guillermo Rigondeaux, he was stripped just before the Santa Cruz was signed.

[5][6] Speaking in build up to the bout Frampton told BBC Radio 5 live that "people will be in for a shock" and that he was ready to pull off the upset "The Mexican fans are getting worried now it is getting closer.

[9] The preliminary card featured WBO Featherweight champion Amanda Serrano make quick work of the challenger Calixta Silgado.

Serrano swarmed Silgado with combinations and hooks, scoring two knockdowns and forcing referee Benjy Esteves to stop the bout in the 1st round.

[11] The chief support saw former 2 division world champion Mikey Garcia return from an enforced two and half year absence from the ring to face former WBC featherweight titleholder Elio Rojas, who himself was coming off a 23-month layoff.

From the opening bell a pattern developed with Santa Cruz moving forward in an attempt to walk down the challenger, while Frampton used head movement and footwork to score with counters and make the champion miss.

Santa Cruz was the more aggressive fighter throughout, but Frampton won many of the early rounds by being the more accurate puncher and the slicker defensively, often making the champion seem flat-footed.

The fight went the full 12 rounds, one judge scored it a 114–114 draw but the other two had it 116–112 and 117–111 both in favour of Frampton giving him a majority decision victory.

[22][23] For his performances against both Santa Cruz and Quigg, Frampton beat Terence Crawford, Román González, Vasiliy Lomachenko and Manny Pacquiao to be named as The Ring magazine Fighter of the Year.