Lamont Roach Jr. Saturday night at the Frost Bank Center in San Antonio. and Isaac Cruz fought to a majority tie.
Cruz defended his interim WBC junior welterweight title, while Roach exited this year with a second straight majority draw.
One judge scored the fight 115-111 in Cruz’s favor, while two judges scored it 113-113.
It was still early in the fight, and Cruz scored a third-round knockout to come within an inch of the fight. However, Roach made a strategic change to seemingly take control of the second half of the fight. But it wasn’t enough to prevent him from winning his final two fights.
Later, Roach vented his frustration.
“I just want a good shake, man. That’s all,” Roach said. “I think I’ve pulled this fight. … I don’t know what to do. But it’s back to the drawing board. I don’t accept it at all. I clearly thought I won a close fight and I’m tired of this s—, man.”
Fighting in Washington, Roach (25-1-3, 10 KO) scored a controversial majority draw with Gervonta “Tank” Davis in March. Unable to secure a rematch, Roach had to look elsewhere and opted to move up to 140 pounds to face Cruz (28-3-2, 18 KO). He entered the fight as the WBA super featherweight titleholder, but was stripped of the title when the bell sounded for his fight with Cruz.
Cruz, who went the distance against Davis in 2021 after a thrilling decision loss, has won six of his previous seven fights, winning the vacant interim WBC junior welterweight title in his last fight, beating Omar Salcido.
Cruz attacked Roach from the opening bell, throwing looping punches. The constant aggression was effective from the beginning, although Roach found places to counterattack with his left hand. Roach picked his seats while Cruz moved forward with reckless abandon. During the exchange in Round 3, Cruz’s left hand knocked Roach off balance, knocking him down for the first time in his career when his glove touched the canvas. Roach was uninjured, but the damage was done and forced him to change his approach.
“I knew he wouldn’t give up and would fight toe-to-toe,” Cruz said. “But guess what? I boxed too, and people didn’t realize I could do it. I boxed.”
The knockdown caused Roach to struggle in the pocket from then on, leading to furious exchanges inside. Cruz worked well to the body while Roach slipped in counters that caught “Pitbull” in the chin. Roach landed a left hook to Cruz’s face in round 6, which was his best punch of the fight up to that point. However, he chose to fight on Cruz’s terms rather than trying to play to his strengths by boxing to the outside and interrupting his opponent’s attacks.
Roach made minor changes in the middle rounds, using a catch-and-shoot strategy to lure Cruz. The changeup was effective because he caught Cruz both coming in and going out. Cruz was also deducted a point for excessive clinching in round 7, which brought the fight to neutral ground and offset the earlier knockdown. Roach upset Cruz with a change of strategy and began to take control of the fight, nullifying Cruz’s offense and completely taking the crowd out of the fight. However, Cruz came alive in the championship rounds, taking the fight to Roach.
It was a close fight that ended in an unsatisfactory draw, although Roach defeated Cruz 191-159. Both fighters seemed interested in a rematch, but Cruz would only agree to it if there was a different referee.
“Yes, absolutely [I want the rematch]”, Cruz said. “But with a different referee and without the referee standing on his side. I won that fight and the referee took that fight away from me.
In the co-main event, O’Shaquie Foster dominated Stephen Fulton and made a unanimous decision to become the interim WBC lightweight champion.
The fight was originally scheduled for Foster’s WBC junior world title, but Fulton was 2 pounds overweight. The WBC inexplicably changed the stakes of the fight to an interim 135-pound title fight, with the winner being the mandatory challenger to Shakur Stevenson.
Foster (24-3, 12 KO) brilliantly outclassed the former two-division champion throughout the entire 12 rounds. He subdued Fulton (23-2, 8 KO) with a edged jab and kept him on the outside for a long time. The champion expertly held the court in the middle of the ring while Fulton struggled to get inside or land anything of value.
As the rounds wore on, Fulton’s frustration showed in his approach as Foster began using combination after jab as his opponent tried to get inside.
The judges scored the fight 117-111, 118-110 and 119-109, but it could have easily been a win due to Foster’s dominance.
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