By Nick Martinez
Isaac Cruz put on a show for the fans at T-Mobile Arena, dominating his fight against Rolly Romero from start to finish. Cruz and Romero had been booked to fight for the WBA junior welterweight title for a while now, and apparently it wasn’t as competitive as expected.
Cruz completely took over this fight against Romero and proved that it wasn’t even close. In the official stats, Cruz landed 129 punches compared to Romero’s 85. Cruz only took 13 more punches than Romero as well, converting on 11 percent more of them.
The rest of the stats read something similar, and for Cruz, this outcome wasn’t surprising. He said, “I didn’t want to come here and just win. I wanted to massacre Rolly and make him eat all the garbage he said to me. I fought with the intention to leave the decision out of the judges’ hands.”
After the first few rounds, it was clear that Romero had fallen behind. Before the start of the eighth round, the ringside doctor had to stop Romero and check him out before allowing him to continue fighting. Fast forward to that eighth round and Cruz landed at least six straight punches to Romero’s head to end the bout.
Isaac Cruz Made A Statement
Isaac Cruz has now improved his boxing record to 26-2-1 with 18 knockouts and has won four straight fights after dropping one to Gervonta Davis back in 2021 via unanimous decision. He’s been on a tear these past couple of years, and Romero was just another obstacle standing in his way of a title.
Romero fell to 15-2 over his career and has lost two of his previous three bouts. He also lost to Gervonta Davis, but that was a sixth-round TKO in 2022. He’s a very talented boxer yet felt completely overwhelmed with the way that Cruz dominated the ring and continued to get in his way.
Romero almost dropped in the first round as well after a brutal left hook to the head. Then later found himself losing a point for holding in the fifth round, and again getting another massive uppercut in the seventh that eventually led to him getting checked by the doctor. Overall, it was a disappointing fight for him, and a statement for Cruz.