Isaac ‘Pitbull’ Cruz weighed in successfully on his second attempt, coming in at 134 3/4 pounds on Friday for his 10-round co-feature fight against former IBF/WBA featherweight champion Yuriorkis Gamboa on Showtime PPV. Gamboa (30-4, 18 KOs) weighed in successfully at 134 1/4 lbs.
The former lightweight world title challenger Cruz (22-2-2, 15 KOs) weighed in at 136.5 lbs in his first weigh-in attempt, which was a pound and half over the 135-lb weight limit.
The 23-year-old Cruz then went back to his training room and took off the remaining weight to get down to the lightweight limit for the fight.
Pitbull is coming off a 12-round unanimous decision loss to WBA ‘regular’ lightweight champion Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis on December 5th in a thrilling war.
Gamboa, 40, has lost his last two fights against Devin Haney and Tank Davis and hasn’t fought in two years since November 2020. The talented Cuban fighter Gamboa’s last win came three years ago against Roman Martinez in July 2019.
It’s unclear why Pitbull Cruz is fighting the past his prime Gamboa now, but it appears that his promoters wanted a recognizable name.
Complete weights:
Errol Spence Jr. – 146 ¼ lbs. vs. Yordenis Ugás – 146 ¾ lbs.
Isaac Cruz – 134 ¾ lbs. vs. Yuriorkis Gamboa – 134 ¼ lbs.
Jose Valenzuela – 134 ¾ lbs. vs. Francisco Vargas – 134 ½ lbs
Cody Crowley – 144 ½ lbs. vs. Josesito Lopez – 146 ½ lbs.
Radzhab Butaev – 146 ½ lbs. vs. Eimantas Stanionis – 146 ½ lbs.
Brandun Lee – 142 ½ lbs. vs. Zachary Ochoa – 141 ¼ lbs.
“I’m ready, 100% focused, and got a great game plan,” said Errol Spence Jr. to ESPN about his fight on Saturday night against Yordenis Ugas in the main event on Showtime PPV.
“I think Ugas is a tough fighter, he comes to fight every time, and he just upset Manny Pacquiao, so he has a lot of confidence. I’m ready to put on a great show. I think he’s pretty good, but he can’t bring nothing to the table that I’ve not seen,” said Spence.
“How do you feel that people look at you, you’re undefeated, 27-0, you got 21 knockouts, and know how big time and legit that you are,” said Stephen A. Smith.
“Oftentimes when I hear you speak, you talk about putting on a show. That’s not just cliche to me, it’s almost like you have to put on a show just so that people don’t forget about you, even though you’re undefeated and universally recognized as one of the two top fighters in the division.”
“That’s just what I’ve been doing my whole career, and that’s why I can fight at home at the AT&T Stadium because I do put on shows every time I fight, and that’s why people come out and watch me fight and buy might pay-per-views,” said Spence.
“I’m making an effort to put on a show for the fans so that they can come back. ‘I got to watch this dude fight again because this dude can fight,” said Spence.
