Photos: Frampton-Santa Cruz, Zlaticanin-Garcia - Official Weigh-In

By Keith Idec

If Friday’s weigh-in was an accurate indication of what to expect, Carl Frampton will feel almost like he’s fighting at home Saturday night in Las Vegas.

Cheered on by a large, loud crowd of a few thousand countrymen who made the long trip to watch him fight live at MGM Grand Garden Arena, Northern Ireland’s Frampton weighed in Friday afternoon at 125 pounds for his highly anticipated featherweight championship rematch against Leo Santa Cruz. That’s slightly less than the 125¼ pounds Frampton weighed for their first fight, which he won by majority decision July 30 at Barclays Center in Brooklyn.

Santa Cruz, of Rosemead, California, also made weight on his first attempt Friday. He also came in at 125 pounds.

“I just wanna say thank you,” Frampton said. “Each and every person that’s come out here, I really appreciate it, truly appreciate it. And I’m gonna send us all home happy.

“I was very grateful and honored to share a ring with such a great champion, Leo Santa Cruz. And I’m glad to be kicking off 2017 the same way. I think the fans enjoyed our fight the last time, and I think they expect more of the same. On Saturday night, it’s gonna be an outstanding fight.”

The 29-year-old Frampton (23-0, 14 KOs) and the 28-year-old Santa Cruz (32-1-1, 18 KOs) will fight for the WBA world featherweight championship Frampton won from Santa Cruz nearly six months ago. Frampton won that entertaining encounter on two of three scorecards (117-111, 116-112, 114-114).

“I feel great,” Santa Cruz said. “I’m very excited. The only thing on my mind right now is revenge. That’s what I wanna do. I wanna come out tomorrow and get the win. … I know it’s gonna be another hard fight. Frampton’s a great fighter. He’s really good and everything. But I’m gonna come here for the win and we’re gonna come out there – another hard fight – but we’re gonna win.”

Showtime will televise the Frampton-Santa Cruz rematch as the main event of a doubleheader. In the opener of a telecast set to start at 10 p.m. ET/7 p.m. PT, Montenegro’s Dejan Zlaticanin (22-0, 15 KOs) will make the first defense of his WBC world lightweight title against former two-division champion Mikey Garcia (35-0, 29 KOs), of Riverside, California.

Zlaticanin, 32, weighed in at 134½ pounds Friday. Garcia, 29, also weighed 134½ pounds.

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