Rolando “Rolly” Romero entered his bout with Isaac “Pitbull” Cruz on Saturday night seen by numerous as the weakest world champ in boxing. Cruz benefited from Romero’s technical shortages to score a TKO in Round 8 of their bout on the undercard of Tim Tszyu vs. Sebastian Fundora to win the WBA junior welterweight champion.
It didn’t take wish for Cruz to break through the defense of Romero, breaking with a heavy left hook to the temple in the opening round that sent out Romero stumbling around the ring on rubber legs. Somehow, Romero handled to not just make it through the frame however handle to prevent a knockdown.
Cruz continued to browse his height drawback by slipping within Romero’s looping shots to score with power punches to both the head and body. When Romero handled to land punches, he was rapidly satisfied by difficult counters from Cruz, who declined to be kept the beyond Romero’s reach.
Romero tried to suppress Cruz’s consistent forward momentum by circling the border of the ring in addition to holding when Cruz efficiently closed the range. That technique expense Romero in Round 5, when his repetitive holding resulted in a point reduction after numerous cautions.
Romero was once again terribly injured in the seventh round. Again, he handled to make it through the round and stay on his feet, however it was clear that the fight was rapidly escaping him since he might not harm Cruz, nor might he keep the much shorter male at bay.
Cruz did not stop the attack in the following round. After the ringside doctor had actually provided Romero a check and stated the fight was extremely near to over, Cruz continued to soak the attack and after a huge flurry took Romero’s legs once again, the referee leapt in to stop the fight at the 0:56 mark of Round 8.
Cruz has actually been looking for a rematch with Gervonta “Tank” Davis after losing a competitive fight in December 2021. With a triumph that seals Cruz as a world champ for the very first time in his profession, that dream rematch is closer than ever.
Romero was making the very first defense of his title, which he won in questionable style after being tore down by Ismael Barroso in May 2023 before a really quick referee interruption in Round 9 of the fight. That fight came one bout after being knocked out by Gervonta Davis in their highly-anticipated 2022 bout.
