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Isaac Cruz

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Isaac Cruz
Born
Isaac Jonathan Cruz González

(1998-05-23) 23 May 1998 (age 26)
Mexico City, Mexico
Other namesPitbull
Statistics
Weight(s)
Height5 ft 4 in (163 cm)[1]
Reach65 in (165 cm)[1]
StanceOrthodox
Boxing record
Total fights30
Wins26
Wins by KO18
Losses3
Draws1

Isaac Jonathan Cruz González (born May 23, 1998) is a Mexican professional boxer who held the World Boxing Association (WBA) super lightweight title from March to August 2024.

Professional career

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Early career

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Cruz vs. Magdaleno

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After amassing a professional record of 19–1–1, Cruz took on former world title contender Diego Magdaleno on the undercard of Gervonta Davis vs. Léo Santa Cruz[2] on 31 October 2020 at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas. Cruz took just 53 seconds to stop Magdaleno in the first round of the bout.[3]

Cruz vs. (Matias) Romero

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In his next fight on 13 March 2021, Cruz took on Jose Matias Romero in a WBA lightweight title eliminator at the Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Connecticut. In a sloppy affair that saw Cruz docked a point in round six for a low blow, he prevailed by unanimous decision, with scores of 114–113, 115–112 and 118–109 all in his favor.[4]

Cruz vs. Vargas

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On 19 June 2021, Cruz took on former WBC super featherweight champion Francisco Vargas on the undercard of Jermall Charlo vs. Juan Macias Montiel.[5] With 30 seconds left in the fight, Cruz opened up a serious cut over Vargas' right eye with an accidental headbutt, but the fight was allowed to continue. With roughly 17 seconds left in the fight, Cruz landed a left-right combination that sent Vargas to the canvas (Showtime's onscreen clock accidentally reset to 1:00 minute and started late, so it is not entirely clear when the knockdown occurred). Although the latter was able to finish out the fight and hear the final bell, Cruz prevailed as the winner via wide unanimous decision, with scores of 97–92, 99–90 and 100–89 all in his favor.[6]

Cruz vs. Davis

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WBA (Regular) lightweight champion Gervonta Davis had originally been slated to face Rolando Romero on 5 December 2021. However, when Romero was pulled from the bout due to sexual harassment allegations made against him, Cruz was announced as Davis' replacement opponent and was brought in at 2 weeks notice. It was the first time that Cruz was headlining a pay-per-view bout. The fight was a tightly contested affair, with the judges' scorecards reading 115–113, 115–113 and 116–112 in Davis' favor, resulting in the second loss of Cruz's professional career.[7] Nevertheless, Cruz became the only second fighter after Germán Meraz to go the distance with Davis.

WBO (Inter-Continental) Lightweight Title

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Cruz vs. Gamboa

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Cruz rebounded from his loss against Davis on 16 April 2022, when he knocked down former unified featherweight champion Yuriorkis Gamboa multiple times en route to a fifth-round technical knockout victory at the AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas on the undercard of Errol Spence Jr. vs. Yordenis Ugás.[8] And with that 23rd win, Cruz also won the (then) vacant WBO Inter-Continental lightweight title.[9]

WBC (Silver) Lightweight Title and WBO (Latino) Lightweight Title

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Cruz vs. Ramirez

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Then on 4 September 2022, and serving as the co-main event feature of the Andy Ruiz vs Luis Ortiz[10] fight, the Mexican Pit bull (Cruz) and southpaw featherweight Eduardo Ramirez-- who was bravely coming up in weight --clashed for the then-vacant WBC Silver lightweight title. On fight-night, Ramirez utilized a well-educated jab, lateral movement, and smart-clinching to stave off Cruz's habitual come-forward pressure for the majority of the first round with Cruz sparsely landing proper right and left hooks whenever he could get in range. In the second round, Cruz adjusted to Ramirez's movements and began landing body shots in more frequency which had his opposition visibly slow down in his tracks and rely heavily on a clinching tactic. And in that same (2nd) round, Cruz pressured Ramirez to the ropes and scored a knock-down thanks to him feinting a left hook to Ramirez's liver before bringing it up top and landing that same left hook to Ramirez's exposed chin. Ramirez got up before referee Jack Reiss could finish the 10-count, but the southpaw was obviously still disoriented from that knock-down. Less than 30 seconds later Cruz pressured Ramirez to the ropes once again and ultimately knocked him out with a left hook and right cross combination.[11]

Cruz vs Cabrera

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Making the first defense of his WBC (Silver) lightweight title, Cruz took on Illinois' own southpaw Mexican-American boxer Giovanni "El Cabron" Cabrera on the 29th of July, 2023, at the T-Mobile Arena, Paradise, Nevada, United States. Their fight also served as the co-main event feature of the Errol Spence vs Terrence Crawford[12] Undisputed Welterweight bout and as a WBC and WBA Lightweight Title Eliminator. As well as on the line for their fight was the (then) vacant WBO (Latino) lightweight title.

On the night of the fight, despite the odds making it seem as if though it would be another Cruz domination, the bout turned out to be a closely contested affair as Cruz edged out a split decision victory over his scheduled opponent with two judges scoring it 115-112 and 114-113 in his favor while the third judge scored it 114-113 in favor of Cabrera.

The first 6 rounds saw Cabrera utilize his height and greater arm reach, as well as some good lateral movement, to keep Cruz at bay and pepper him with southpaw (right) jabs and check-hooks. And for the most part during that time, Cruz's signature come-forward pressure worked against him as Cabrera repeatedly circled to his right to keep the Mexican Pit-bull circling and unable to properly erase the gap between them. And whenever Cruz did manage to close the distance, and consequently land right and left hooks to the head and body, Cabrera would clinch and completely halt Cruz's offensive success.

From the 7th round onward, whether it had been because of fatigue or because of the body shots that Cruz managed to land across the first 6 rounds, Cabrera abandoned his footwork and opted to stand toe-to-toe with Cruz. This change in tactics played heavily into Cruz's favor because his superior in-fighting acumen and tight high-guard blocked and deflected most of Cabrera's punches and allowed him to land thudding right and left hooks and uppercuts in return. To Cabrera's credit, he showed a sturdy-chin as he never once looked like he was overly-hurt from the combinations Cruz was landing on him. And this pattern of Cruz hitting Cabrera and Cabrera clinching in response would go on to repeat itself across the remainder of the fight up until the latter half of the 12th and final round when Cabrera once again used his footwork and longer reach to keep circling Cruz and hit him with jabs and one-two combinations.

Back in the 8th round, Cruz was deducted a point because of the way his head repeatedly clashed with Cabrera's every time he closed in to attack. This point deduction ultimately led to the fight and the judge's scores to be a lot closer.

Regardless of it being generally considered by the boxing world to be bad performance from Cruz, he won the bout, retained his WBC (Silver) lightweight title and acquired the vacant WBO (Latino) lightweight title as well as the 25th victory of his professional boxing career.[13]

WBA Super-Lightweight Champion

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Romero vs. Cruz

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On the 30th of March, 2024, at the T-Mobile Arena in Paradise, Nevada, United States, Cruz went on to make his Super-Lightweight debut by facing the ever colorful-character american boxer Rolando "Rolly" Romero in Romero's first defense of his WBA super-lightweight title.[14] In the Press Conference, Rolando Romero was making fun of Isaac Cruz because of his ears calling him "Chihuahua Cruz" and Romero wore a chain with the face of Cruz with big ears like a Chihuahua.

Cruz started off strong in their scheduled 12-round bout by clocking Romero with a hard left hook in the 1st round that buckled his knees and had him stumbling backwards to the ropes. To Romero's credit, he managed to gather his wits quickly enough and staved off being knocked out by clinching Cruz and boxing at a distance right after.

Across the following 4 rounds, Cruz's relentless pressure and ever-prominent combination punching was visibly taking its toll on the champion as Romero found himself more and more relying on his clinching strategy. In the 5th round, the clinching ended up being so repetitive that the bout's referee, Thomas Taylor, ended up deducting 1 point from Romero.

From thereon forward, Cruz's domination heightened tenfold now that he had the luxury to be free of being clinched whenever he began landing his barrages on Romero. And the end came in the 8th round when Cruz, courtesy of spiteful left hook, rocked Romero so hard that he could not block or move away from the following 5 consecutive left and right haymakers that all landed flush on his chin and jaw.[15]

With that emphatic victory, Cruz was crowned the WBA Champion of the Super-Lightweight division.

Cruz vs. Valenzuela

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Cruz made his first defense of his WBA super lightweight title against José Valenzuela at BMO Stadium in Los Angeles on August 3, 2024.[16] He lost the bout by split decision.[17]

Professional boxing record

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30 fights 26 wins 3 losses
By knockout 18 0
By decision 8 3
Draws 1
No. Result Record Opponent Type Round, time Date Location Notes
30 Loss 26–3–1 José Valenzuela SD 12 3 Aug 2024 BMO Stadium, Los Angeles, California, U.S. Lost WBA super lightweight title
29 Win 26–2–1 Rolando Romero TKO 8 (12), 0:56 30 Mar 2024 T-Mobile Arena, Paradise, Nevada, U.S. Won WBA super lightweight title
28 Win 25–2–1 Giovanni Cabrera SD 12 29 Jul 2023 T-Mobile Arena, Paradise, Nevada, U.S. Retained WBC Silver lightweight title;
Won vacant WBO Latino lightweight title
27 Win 24–2–1 Eduardo Ramirez KO 2 (12), 2:27 4 Sep 2022 Crypto.com Arena, Los Angeles, California, U.S. Won vacant WBC Silver lightweight title
26 Win 23–2–1 Yuriorkis Gamboa TKO 5 (10), 1:32 16 Apr 2022 AT&T Stadium, Arlington, Texas, U.S. Won vacant WBO Inter-Continental lightweight title
25 Loss 22–2–1 Gervonta Davis UD 12 5 Dec 2021 Staples Center, Los Angeles, California, U.S. For WBA (Regular) lightweight title
24 Win 22–1–1 Francisco Vargas UD 10 19 Jun 2021 Toyota Center, Houston, Texas, U.S.
23 Win 21–1–1 Jose Matias Romero UD 12 13 Mar 2021 Mohegan Sun Arena, Uncasville, Connecticut, U.S.
22 Win 20–1–1 Diego Magdaleno KO 1 (12), 0:53 31 Oct 2020 Alamodome, San Antonio, Texas, U.S.
21 Win 19–1–1 Thomas Mattice MD 10 14 Feb 2020 2300 Arena, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.
20 Win 18–1–1 Miguel Angel Perez Aispuro UD 8 7 Dec 2019 Barclays Center, New York City, New York, U.S.
19 Win 17–1–1 Eleazar Valenzuela KO 1 (10), 2:20 16 Feb 2019 Plaza de Toros La Coleta, San Cristóbal de las Casas, Mexico
18 Win 16–1–1 Jose Felix TKO 3 (8), 2:11 10 Nov 2018 Lienzo Charro Hermanos Ramírez, Corregidora, Mexico
17 Win 15–1–1 Jose Angel Flores Chan KO 1 (8), 2:44 6 Oct 2018 Arena Coliseo, Mexico City, Mexico
16 Win 14–1–1 Heberto Persico UD 8 16 Jun 2018 Auditorio Centenario, Gómez Palacio, Durango, Mexico
15 Win 13–1–1 Juan Jose Martinez Alvarez RTD 5 (8), 3:00 17 Feb 2018 Arena Coliseo, Mexico City, Mexico
14 Win 12–1–1 Ricardo Juan Saenz TKO 2 (6), 0:56 11 Nov 2017 Inforum, Irapuato, Mexico
13 Draw 11–1–1 Jose Calyecac PTS 6 30 Sep 2017 Centro Regional de Deporte de Las Américas, Ecatepec, Mexico
12 Win 11–1 Dunis Liñán TKO 7 (8), 0:55 1 Jul 2017 Auditorio Centenario, Gómez Palacio, Durango, Mexico
11 Win 10–1 Ivan Basurto Monroy TKO 3 (6), 2:55 22 Apr 2017 Unidad Deportiva Martín Alarcón, Metepec, Mexico
10 Win 9–1 Raul Hinojosa TKO 6 (8), 0:39 3 Dec 2016 Centro de Convenciones, Acapulco, Mexico
9 Win 8–1 Daniel Evangelista Jr TKO 3 (6), 2:17 22 Oct 2016 Arena Coliseo, Mexico City, Mexico
8 Win 7–1 Carlos Marcelino Santiago KO 1 (6), 0:47 27 Aug 2016 Arena Coliseo, Mexico City, Mexico
7 Win 6–1 Italo Ortiz TKO 1 (6), 0:31 2 Apr 2016 Centro de Convenciones, Tlalnepantla, Mexico
6 Loss 5–1 Luis Miguel Montaño UD 8 6 Feb 2016 Arena Coliseo, Mexico City, Mexico
5 Win 5–0 Francisco Valadez MD 6 5 Sep 2015 Centro de Espectáculos del Recinto Ferial, Metepec, Mexico
4 Win 4–0 Rafael Lopez Garcia KO 1 (4), 0:22 8 Aug 2015 Arena Coliseo, Mexico City, Mexico
3 Win 3–0 Jose Eduardo Zamudio TKO 3 (4), 1:47 27 Jun 2015 Centro Civico de Ecatepec, Ecatepec, Mexico
2 Win 2–0 Brandon Gonzalez SD 4 23 May 2015 Centro de Espectáculos del Recinto Ferial, Metepec, Mexico
1 Win 1–0 Luis Yan Revilla KO 1 (4), 1:30 14 Mar 2015 Auditorio Municipal, Naucalpan, Mexico

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b Premier Boxing Champions tale of the tape prior to the Rolando Romero fight.
  2. ^ Christ, Scott (31 October 2020). "Gervonta Davis viciously knocks out Leo Santa Cruz". Bad Left Hook. Retrieved 2 April 2024.
  3. ^ Christ, Scott (31 October 2020). "Isaac Cruz demolishes Diego Magdaleno in 53 seconds". Bad Left Hook. Retrieved 2 April 2024.
  4. ^ "Jose Matias Romero vs. Isaac Cruz, Benavidez vs. Ellis | Boxing Bout". Tapology. Retrieved 2 April 2024.
  5. ^ Hansen, John (20 June 2021). "Results and highlights: Jermall Charlo wins unanimous decision against Juan Macias Montiel, retains WBC title". Bad Left Hook. Retrieved 2 April 2024.
  6. ^ Rosenthal, Michael (19 June 2021). "Isaac Cruz outpoints Francisco Vargas in fight that turns ugly". Boxing Junkie. Retrieved 12 June 2024.
  7. ^ Christ, Scott (6 December 2021). "Highlights and results: Gervonta Davis wins decision, knockout streak ends against Isaac Cruz". Bad Left Hook. Retrieved 2 April 2024.
  8. ^ Christ, Scott (17 April 2022). "Highlights and results: Errol Spence Jr stops Yordenis Ugas, calls out Terence Crawford". Bad Left Hook. Retrieved 2 April 2024.
  9. ^ Christ, Scott (29 March 2022). "Isaac Cruz: I learned from loss to Gervonta Davis, ready for Yuriorkis Gamboa". Bad Left Hook. Retrieved 2 April 2024.
  10. ^ Christ, Scott (5 September 2022). "Ruiz vs Ortiz full fight video highlights and results: Andy Ruiz Jr carried to narrow win over Luis Ortiz due to three knockdowns". Bad Left Hook. Retrieved 2 April 2024.
  11. ^ Christ, Scott (4 September 2022). "Ruiz vs Ortiz video highlights and results: Isaac Cruz demolishes Eduardo Ramirez, calls out Gervonta Davis and Devin Haney". Bad Left Hook. Retrieved 2 April 2024.
  12. ^ Christ, Scott (30 July 2023). "Spence vs Crawford official scorecard: Terence Crawford's domination of Errol Spence Jr". Bad Left Hook. Retrieved 3 April 2024.
  13. ^ "Isaac Cruz vs Giovanni Cabrera Fight Stats". PBC Boxing. Retrieved 3 April 2024.
  14. ^ Chiari, Mike. "Report: Rolly Romero, Isaac Cruz Agree to Contract for 140-Pound Title Fight in March". Bleacher Report.
  15. ^ Gutierrez, Paul. "'Pitbull' Cruz stops 'Rolly' Romero; Lara and Martinez shine in wins". ESPN.com.
  16. ^ Iskenderov, Parviz (2 August 2024). "Isaac Cruz 'really well prepared' for title defense against Jose Valenzuela". FIGHTMAG.
  17. ^ Gray, Tom (3 August 2024). "Isaac Cruz vs. Jose Valenzuela schedule, results from 2024 boxing fight". Sporting News.
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Sporting positions
Regional boxing titles
Vacant
Title last held by
Vasiliy Lomachenko
WBO Inter-Continental
lightweight Champion

April 16, 2022 – 2022
Vacated
Vacant
Title next held by
Keyshawn Davis
Vacant
Title last held by
Zaur Abdullaev
WBC Silver
lightweight Champion

September 4, 2022 – March 30, 2024
Won world title
Vacant
Title next held by
Mark Chamberlain
Vacant
Title last held by
Miguel Madueno
WBO Latino
lightweight Champion

July 29, 2023 – March 30, 2024
Won world title
Vacant
Title next held by
Alan Abel Chaves
World boxing titles
Preceded by WBA light-welterweight champion
March 30, 2024 – August 3, 2024
Succeeded by