Rolly Romero vs Isaac Cruz
Mexican sensation Isaac “Pitbull” Cruz (26-2-1, 18 KOs) showcased his prowess in the ring by capturing the WBA Super Lightweight World Championship from Rolando “Rolly” Romero (15-2, 13 KOs) with an eighth-round TKO victory.
Despite enduring pre-fight verbal jabs from Romero, Cruz asserted his dominance from the outset, landing a powerful left hook to Romero’s head early in the first round, causing him to wobble. While Romero managed to regain his composure and weather the storm, he struggled to deter Cruz’s relentless assault throughout the fight.
Back training with Ismael Salas for the first time since early in his career, Romero was able to show enough movement and ring savvy to push the fight into the second half. He also attempted to strategically hold and keep Cruz off of him, but was deducted a point in round five for excessively holding. Despite these efforts, he was once again hurt late in round seven, this time from an onslaught that began with a straight right hand to the head.
In the climactic moments of the bout, Cruz unleashed a relentless barrage of punches, landing at least six consecutive shots to Romero’s head. Referee Tom Taylor had no choice but to intervene and halt the contest at 56 seconds into the eighth round. With this victory, Cruz seized Romero’s WBA junior welterweight world title, a feat achieved on the co-main event of a card headlined by a junior middleweight title clash between Tim Tszyu and Sebastian Fundora.
“I didn’t just aim to secure a victory tonight,” remarked Cruz. “My goal was to utterly dominate Rolly and force him to face the consequences of his disrespectful words. …I fought with the determination to render the judges’ decision irrelevant.”
“We gave the fans a great fight,” remarked Romero. “Unfortunately, we came up short. I want to thank ‘Pitbull’ Cruz and all the fans that came out and made this a great event. I’ll be back.
“I fought with the intention to leave the decision out of the judges’ hands,”
“I am not here just to be a dangerous fighter,” said Cruz. “I now have a title that is backing me up. So anybody that is available, I’ll be ready.”