Isaac ‘Pitbull’ Cruz is enjoying his victory from last Saturday night against Rolando ‘Rolly’ Romero in Las Vegas. Cruz (26-2-1, 18 KOs) overpowered Rolly (15-2, 13 KOs), stopping him in the eighth round to capture his WBA light welterweight title at the T-Mobile Arena.
Cruz’s win was revenge for Rolly’s badmouthing during their fight promotion. Much of what Rolly said was personal and crossed the line of what was palatable in promoting the fight.
Pitbull isn’t sure if Rolly was trying to get him to become unfocused, but didn’t work if that was his game. Rolly is now an ex-champion, and his career is on shaky ground.
As the new WBA light welterweight champion, Cruz would like to fight a unification against IBF champ Subriel Matias or WBO belt-holder Teofimo Lopez.
He prefers fighting one of those two over a match against WBC champ Devin Haney because those guys would come to fight. Haney is a more decisive fighter.
Fueled by Anger
“It felt badass. I focused in my camp to take out all my anger, all my power inside the ring against him. All he did was trash talk. He wanted to get us unfocused, but he couldn’t achieve that,” said Isaac ‘Pitbull’ Cruz to Fight Hub TV when asked about how it felt to defeat Rolando ‘Rolly’ Romero last Saturday night.
Rolly fought similarly to his match against Ismael Barroso last May, choosing to move around the ring for three minutes of every round. After getting a taste of his power in the first round and being shaken up, he didn’t show much ambition to slug with Cruz.
“In the next week, I’ll speak to Sean Gibbons, PBC, and my team to decide if I’ll stay at 140 or go back down to 135. Whichever of the two options, we’ll go which one that’s best.”
It would only make sense for Cruz to give up his WBA title to return to 135 if he were offered a rematch with Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis. Other than that, staying at lightweight might be a dead end for him.
Targeting on Lopez and Matias
“I’ve been adjusting to 140. At 135, I feel very strong,” said Cruz. “We will wait for a big name or a big opportunity if it’s good for us and work towards that. I think the three are big names, but I think the most interesting would be Teofimo Lopez and Subriel Matias.
“It’s because they come forward, and the public would like to see it due to the styles,” said Pitbull Cruz about fighters he would like to face at 140.
Getting a fight against IBF light welterweight champion Subriel Matias would be a lot easier than Cruz getting a chance to face WBO champ Teofimo Lopez, who is with Top Rank, and fights on ESPN. Even if Top Rank did give Teofimo the greenlight to make a fight against Cruz, Lopez could make negotiations impossible by pricing himself out.
“Yeah, fight after fight, he talks, and when someone wants to make the fight, he disappears,” said Cruz when asked if he’d like to fight Ryan Garcia. “We don’t know if he’s serious about it or not or if it’s just all talk.
Cruz: The Next Canelo?
“I’ve always said that I have the physical and mental capabilities to be a worthy successor to Canelo for Mexico. I have the capabilities and I have what it takes to take the torch and be the successor for Mexican boxing,” said Cruz.
