2020 Olympic gold medalist Andy Cruz (3-0,1 KO) put on a sparkling performance, pitching a ten-round unanimous decision shutout victory over a defensive-minded Brayan Zamarippa (14-3, 5 KOs) in a successful defense of his IBF International and WBA Continental Latin-American lightweight belts on Saturday night at the Caribe Royale in Orlando, Florida.
Zamarripa took an enormous amount of punishment from Cruz and was limited to just 30+ punches landed in the fight. He looked worried about throwing due to Cruz counting him with punches. The scores were 100-90, 100-90, and 100-90.
Cruz staggered Zamarripa in the third round with a straight right hand that had him holding on. After that round, Zamarripa played it safe, rarely throwing anything and mostly moving to keep from getting hit.
“I’ll be ready in two months, two months I’ll need. I’ll be ready for the Haney-Garcia card [on April 20th]. Two months is all I need,” said Andy Cruz to Matchroom Boxing on when he plans on fighting next.
“Of course, it makes me very happy to hear comments from boxers of the caliber of Shakur praising my defense. It shows me I’m on the right path I want to take to become a legend in this sport.
“I wanted to come into the professional game and show that I can box at any distance in the ring. I’m very versatile, and I wanted to show that strength going into the professionals. I wanted to show the doubters as well that I could go on and do good things in this professional career.
“As I’ve seen in previous interviews. Whether we face each other completely depends on Keyshawn Davis,” said Cruz when asked about his thoughts on Keyshawn Davis, a former opponent of his from his amateur days, saying he doesn’t want to fight him.
“I’m progressing; I’m doing well. I’m doing what I can do best, but he has to go and show that he’s one of the best. It completely depends on him if we’ll face each other in the future.
“I wanted to say that, like any father, a son can always do better than a father in the future. There’s always hope,” said Cruz, jokingly, viewing Keyshawn as his son due to his 4-0 record against him in the amateurs.
