After having obtained the WBA super lightweight belt in March, Isaac ‘Pitbull’ Cruz He had the first defense of his championship against Jose Valenzuela, losing the belt five months after having obtained it.
In an extremely even fight, where the Mexican-American dominated at times, the Mexico City native was unable to hold on to his WBA world title for long after knocking out Rolando Romero in 8 rounds in March 2024.
The cards read 116-112, 113-115 and 116-112 in favor of Rayo Valenzuela, in a decision that made the entire BMO Stadium in Los Angeles, California, explode when they saw that the Pitbull Cross He was unable to retain the WBA Super Lightweight belt.
He ‘Lightning’ Valenzuela He had a nearly perfect performance, landing more and better punches than the ‘Pitbull’ Cruzwho was unable to counter his opponent’s jab.
In accordance with Compubox, Valenzuela connected 171 total hits for 118 of Crossin power shots the difference was 138-112, while the ‘Ray’ He landed his jab 33 times compared to just 6 of the ‘Pitbull’who only landed more punches than his opponent in the second round, with a difference of 18-8.
With this victory the ‘Lightning’ Valenzuela improved his record to 14-2 with 9 knockouts and added his second consecutive victory after a negative streak in which he suffered the only two defeats of his career.
For his part, the ‘Pitbull’ Cruz He fell to 26-3-1 (18 knockouts) and saw the end of a streak of four consecutive victories, three of them by quick knockout. In addition, this defeat complicates the outlook for a possible rematch against Gervonta Davis.
In what seemed like it would be a long reign for the “chilango”, the man from Los Mochis gave him a “slap” of reality by dethroning him in just his first and only defense of the WBA super lightweight world title.
What did Cruz say after the defeat?
The CDMX native, once he lost his belt, did not hesitate to immediately ask the Mexican-American for a rematch. He did not want to make any statements about the scores given by the judges; however, he mentioned that the public always has the best opinion.
“I’m not going to say anything, the best judge is the public and I dedicated my fight to them and my family. I came to work and give everything, I’m not going to say anything or make excuses, the best critic is the one from this public,” he said. Pitbull Cross.
Cross He is the third consecutive champion who cannot defend his title Superlight of the AMBjoining Alberto Puello and Romero.
Source: Ambito
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