By Miguel Rivera

Former three division world champion Leo Santa Cruz (32-1-1, 18KOs) is still recovering from the first defeat of his pro career, which took place late last month with a close points defeat at the hands of Carl Frampton at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn.

Both fighters are on board with a rematch. Frampton wants the fight to take place prior to Christmas, either in Las Vegas or Belfast. He will not face Santa Cruz in Los Angeles.

"The truth is it hurts [to lose], it was very hard to have a loss in my career, but the words of the people who have been supporting me - it helped me out. I am more eager to come out there for a rematch. Many people tell me that the fight was very good, many tell me that I won, others tell me that it was at least a draw, but everyone has their opinion and we are soon going back to the gym to win the rematch," Santa Cruz told ESPN Deportes.

"I think he does want to give me a rematch, hopefully we can do it before Christmas. I think it is going to happen because he says yes to it and I'm also saying yes. It will be difficult to reach an agreement [on the location], because in New York there was a lot of favoritism toward him. I think it would be best to find a neutral location for the fight."

"I think we must come forward, be more aggressive. The other time we waited a bit too much to see what Carl Frampton would do, but when I put pressure on him I feel he tired, so I have to go much further with coming forward and apply pressure from the first round and work hard to get him tired and finish him off. If the rematch is not given, then we will look to the other champions, Gary Russell is there, is there Lee Selby or any of the champions."