Carl Frampton ready to enhance fighter-of-the-year candidacy with second win over Leo Santa Cruz

Northern Ireland’s Carl Frampton came to the U.S. to meet the best fighters possible and widen his profile, which has been accomplished with a pending fighter-of-the-year award and his participation in the best fight that has been made so far this year.

“You want to check off boxes. My main objective was to become a world champion. I’ve done that. Everything else is a bonus,” said Frampton, who has been named fighter of the year by several fight publications and is awaiting the official crowning by the Boxing Writers Assn. of America in a few weeks.

“To be in the running is a huge thing; 2016 was a year I’ll never forget and 2017 has the potential to be even better. I’m looking forward to kicking it off with a great fight. This is not for publicity and I’m not a spoofer -- this is going to be a good fight and there’s no doubt about it.”

Frampton (23-0, 14 knockouts) is referring to his Jan. 28 World Boxing Assn. featherweight-title rematch against Los Angeles’ former three-division world champion Leo Santa Cruz (32-1-1, 18 KOs) at MGM Grand in Las Vegas.

Showtime will televise the bout that follows their July fight-of-the-year contender that Frampton won by majority decision at Barclays Center in Brooklyn.

“When I fight and spar people, I feel I improve the second time. I have a good boxing brain and can adapt to different situations,” Frampton said. “I know everything about Leo. If you look at all his fights, he fights the same way: head first, throws a lot of shots, very fit, very tough, very resilient. But I know about him and that’ll be the difference.”

While Frampton sent Santa Cruz to the ropes with a second-round punch, what most impressed in the July bout was his ability not to yield to Santa Cruz’s steady blows.

That sturdiness remains the greatest obstacle Santa Cruz must clear to set up a trilogy match in Ireland – and Frampton possesses a rematch clause – perhaps later this year.

“He usually wears people down, overwhelms them, but I have serious punching power and when I’m hitting him when he comes in, he may not want to be as aggressive, maybe not want to let his hands go as much,” Frampton said. “Leo can punch. Being honest, I have been hit harder. Being up at featherweight now, I can take a shot better. I feel comfortable.”

Frampton earlier in 2016 won a super-bantamweight title-unifying match against England’s Scott Quigg, and he says by repeating a victory over Santa Cruz he wants to pursue a featherweight unification in Belfast, Northern Ireland, against the likes of L.A.’s Abner Mares or England’s Lee Selby.

Frampton is currently training in Las Vegas while Santa Cruz will discuss his camp at a media gathering Tuesday in Hollywood.

Barry McGuigan, the former champion boxer who manages Frampton, said he’s assembled a “big, long” kid and another U.K. talent in sparring while repeating a four-week camp in the fight city that Frampton employed before the New York fight.

“He won the fight and didn’t box to his best. There’s more he can do to make it more convincing,” McGuigan said. “I don’t think there’s a lot Santa Cruz can do different. He threw over 1,000 punches in the last one. He underestimated Carl. We believe 100% it will be the same result, just more convincing.”

Frampton told the Los Angeles Times from camp Monday that, “You don’t fix what’s not broken. We’ll be used to the time difference, the conditions, and soak this all up [in Las Vegas]. I’m here to win.”

Before absorbing his first loss, Santa Cruz’s training camp was unsettled by the cancer diagnosis for his father-trainer Jose Santa Cruz, who is healthy now.

“I know he had a lot of trouble with his dad. Maybe training wasn’t his focus, [so] I’m expecting and preparing for a better Leo Santa Cruz, but in terms of how he fights – his style – he’s the same way,” Frampton said.

“I have a lot of people who follow me and I picked up a lot of new fans on the East Coast. There was a big Irish contingent there and I’m hoping some of them will come and support me. I’m expecting to bring 4,000 fans to Vegas. I know he’ll bring a lot of fans because you can drive from L.A. to Vegas … but it’s outstanding for me that these big fights are happening and if there’s any Irish in L.A. I hope they come out to support me, too.”

lance.pugmire@latimes.com