Isaac Cruz

Isaac Cruz
Born	Isaac Jonathan Cruz González (1998-05-23) 23 May 1998 (age 26) Mexico City, Mexico
Other names	Pitbull
Statistics
Weight(s)	Lightweight Light welterweight
Height	5 ft 4 in (163 cm)[1]
Reach	65 in (165 cm)[1]
Stance	Orthodox
Boxing record
Total fights	30
Wins	26
Wins by KO	18
Losses	3
Draws	1

Isaac Jonathan Cruz González (born May 23, 1998) is a Mexican professional boxer who held the World Boxing Association (WBA) super lightweight title from March to August 2024.

After amassing a professional record of 19–1–1, Cruz took on former world title contender Diego Magdaleno on the undercard of Gervonta Davis vs. Léo Santa Cruz^[2] on 31 October 2020 at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas. Cruz took just 53 seconds to stop Magdaleno in the first round of the bout.^[3]

In his next fight on 13 March 2021, Cruz took on Jose Matias Romero in a WBA lightweight title eliminator at the Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Connecticut. In a sloppy affair that saw Cruz docked a point in round six for a low blow, he prevailed by unanimous decision, with scores of 114–113, 115–112 and 118–109 all in his favor.^[4]

On 19 June 2021, Cruz took on former WBC super featherweight champion Francisco Vargas on the undercard of Jermall Charlo vs. Juan Macias Montiel.^[5] With 30 seconds left in the fight, Cruz opened up a serious cut over Vargas' right eye with an accidental headbutt, but the fight was allowed to continue. With roughly 17 seconds left in the fight, Cruz landed a left-right combination that sent Vargas to the canvas (Showtime's onscreen clock accidentally reset to 1:00 minute and started late, so it is not entirely clear when the knockdown occurred). Although the latter was able to finish out the fight and hear the final bell, Cruz prevailed as the winner via wide unanimous decision, with scores of 97–92, 99–90 and 100–89 all in his favor.^[6]

WBA (Regular) lightweight champion Gervonta Davis had originally been slated to face Rolando Romero on 5 December 2021. However, when Romero was pulled from the bout due to sexual harassment allegations made against him, Cruz was announced as Davis' replacement opponent and was brought in at 2 weeks notice. It was the first time that Cruz was headlining a pay-per-view bout. The fight was a tightly contested affair, with the judges' scorecards reading 115–113, 115–113 and 116–112 in Davis' favor, resulting in the second loss of Cruz's professional career.^[7] Nevertheless, Cruz became the only second fighter after Germán Meraz to go the distance with Davis.

Cruz rebounded from his loss against Davis on 16 April 2022, when he knocked down former unified featherweight champion Yuriorkis Gamboa multiple times en route to a fifth-round technical knockout victory at the AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas on the undercard of Errol Spence Jr. vs. Yordenis Ugás.^[8] And with that 23rd win, Cruz also won the (then) vacant WBO Inter-Continental lightweight title.^[9]

Then on 4 September 2022, and serving as the co-main event feature of the Andy Ruiz vs Luis Ortiz^[10] fight, the Mexican Pit bull (Cruz) and southpaw featherweight Eduardo Ramirez-- who was bravely coming up in weight --clashed for the then-vacant WBC Silver lightweight title. On fight-night, Ramirez utilized a well-educated jab, lateral movement, and smart-clinching to stave off Cruz's habitual come-forward pressure for the majority of the first round with Cruz sparsely landing proper right and left hooks whenever he could get in range. In the second round, Cruz adjusted to Ramirez's movements and began landing body shots in more frequency which had his opposition visibly slow down in his tracks and rely heavily on a clinching tactic. And in that same (2nd) round, Cruz pressured Ramirez to the ropes and scored a knock-down thanks to him feinting a left hook to Ramirez's liver before bringing it up top and landing that same left hook to Ramirez's exposed chin. Ramirez got up before referee Jack Reiss could finish the 10-count, but the southpaw was obviously still disoriented from that knock-down. Less than 30 seconds later Cruz pressured Ramirez to the ropes once again and ultimately knocked him out with a left hook and right cross combination.^[11]

Making the first defense of his WBC (Silver) lightweight title, Cruz took on Illinois' own southpaw Mexican-American boxer Giovanni "El Cabron" Cabrera on the 29th of July, 2023, at the T-Mobile Arena, Paradise, Nevada, United States. Their fight also served as the co-main event feature of the Errol Spence vs Terrence Crawford^[12] Undisputed Welterweight bout and as a WBC and WBA Lightweight Title Eliminator. As well as on the line for their fight was the (then) vacant WBO (Latino) lightweight title.

On the night of the fight, despite the odds making it seem as if though it would be another Cruz domination, the bout turned out to be a closely contested affair as Cruz edged out a split decision victory over his scheduled opponent with two judges scoring it 115-112 and 114-113 in his favor while the third judge scored it 114-113 in favor of Cabrera.

The first 6 rounds saw Cabrera utilize his height and greater arm reach, as well as some good lateral movement, to keep Cruz at bay and pepper him with southpaw (right) jabs and check-hooks. And for the most part during that time, Cruz's signature come-forward pressure worked against him as Cabrera repeatedly circled to his right to keep the Mexican Pit-bull circling and unable to properly erase the gap between them. And whenever Cruz did manage to close the distance, and consequently land right and left hooks to the head and body, Cabrera would clinch and completely halt Cruz's offensive success.

From the 7th round onward, whether it had been because of fatigue or because of the body shots that Cruz managed to land across the first 6 rounds, Cabrera abandoned his footwork and opted to stand toe-to-toe with Cruz. This change in tactics played heavily into Cruz's favor because his superior in-fighting acumen and tight high-guard blocked and deflected most of Cabrera's punches and allowed him to land thudding right and left hooks and uppercuts in return. To Cabrera's credit, he showed a sturdy-chin as he never once looked like he was overly-hurt from the combinations Cruz was landing on him. And this pattern of Cruz hitting Cabrera and Cabrera clinching in response would go on to repeat itself across the remainder of the fight up until the latter half of the 12th and final round when Cabrera once again used his footwork and longer reach to keep circling Cruz and hit him with jabs and one-two combinations.

Back in the 8th round, Cruz was deducted a point because of the way his head repeatedly clashed with Cabrera's every time he closed in to attack. This point deduction ultimately led to the fight and the judge's scores to be a lot closer.

Regardless of it being generally considered by the boxing world to be bad performance from Cruz, he won the bout, retained his WBC (Silver) lightweight title and acquired the vacant WBO (Latino) lightweight title as well as the 25th victory of his professional boxing career.^[13]

On the 30th of March, 2024, at the T-Mobile Arena in Paradise, Nevada, United States, Cruz went on to make his Super-Lightweight debut by facing the ever colorful-character american boxer Rolando "Rolly" Romero in Romero's first defense of his WBA super-lightweight title.^[14] In the Press Conference, Rolando Romero was making fun of Isaac Cruz because of his ears calling him "Chihuahua Cruz" and Romero wore a chain with the face of Cruz with big ears like a Chihuahua.

Cruz started off strong in their scheduled 12-round bout by clocking Romero with a hard left hook in the 1st round that buckled his knees and had him stumbling backwards to the ropes. To Romero's credit, he managed to gather his wits quickly enough and staved off being knocked out by clinching Cruz and boxing at a distance right after.

Across the following 4 rounds, Cruz's relentless pressure and ever-prominent combination punching was visibly taking its toll on the champion as Romero found himself more and more relying on his clinching strategy. In the 5th round, the clinching ended up being so repetitive that the bout's referee, Thomas Taylor, ended up deducting 1 point from Romero.

From thereon forward, Cruz's domination heightened tenfold now that he had the luxury to be free of being clinched whenever he began landing his barrages on Romero. And the end came in the 8th round when Cruz, courtesy of spiteful left hook, rocked Romero so hard that he could not block or move away from the following 5 consecutive left and right haymakers that all landed flush on his chin and jaw.^[15]

With that emphatic victory, Cruz was crowned the WBA Champion of the Super-Lightweight division.

Cruz made his first defense of his WBA super lightweight title against José Valenzuela at BMO Stadium in Los Angeles on August 3, 2024.^[16] He lost the bout by split decision.^[17]

Cruz is scheduled to face Angel Fierro in 10-round super lightweight bout at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on February 1, 2025.^[18]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Isaac Cruz.

• List of Mexican boxing world champions
• List of world light-welterweight boxing champions

• Boxing record for Isaac Cruz from BoxRec (registration required)
• Isaac Cruz - Profile, News Archive & Current Rankings at Box.Live