Lamont Roach announced his fight against Isaac ‘Pitbull’ Cruz today from a restaurant for their clash on December 6 on PBC on Amazon Prime PPV from San Antonio, Texas.
Jumping to 140 for Gold
Roach (25-1-2, 10 KOs) will challenge Cruz (28-3-1, 18 KOs) for his WBC interim light welterweight title. He’ll be moving up from 135 to jump ahead of the top 15 contenders like Jamaine Ortiz in the WBC’s rankings to face Cruz for his interim strap.
It would have been interesting to see how Roach would deal with Jamaine Ortiz’s power and speed if he had to go through him for his title shot against ‘Pitbull’ Cruz, rather than having it given to him on a silver platter.
“On December 6th, living in San Antonio, Texas, I will be fighting Isaac ‘Pitbull’ Cruz on PPV for the WBC interim light welterweight championship of the world,” said Roach on social media today, announcing his fight with Cruz.
This is Roach’s second PPV fight in a row after coming up empty in his 12-round draw against WBA lightweight champion Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis on March 1, 2025. A lot of fans praised Roach for his impressive performance, but it wasn’t that great an effort by him. It was a case of Tank looking so bad, not throwing, and doing very little.
“‘Pitbull’ Cruz has got a name, and Lamont Roach has stepped up to a name now. I’d like to see him at 135,” said Bernie Davis to MillCiity Boxing. “I wouldn’t have gone to 140. Lamont Roach ain’t that big. He’s not that tall of a guy. I think he should be able to get by ‘Pitbull’ Cruz. He should be able to box him.”
‘Pitbull’ Brings the Pressure
‘Pitbull’ Cruz’s power, aggressiveness, and work rate might be too much for Roach to deal with in this fight. Looking back at Roach’s fight with Gervonta Davis, he got hit a lot in their clash earlier this year on March 1.
The only reason the fight was scored a draw is that Tank wasn’t active enough and spent a lot of time waiting between punches. Cruz doesn’t leave long pauses between punches, and he won’t be afraid of Roach’s shots because he’s not a big puncher. I can see this going badly for Roach, as his punch resistance isn’t better than Rolando ‘Rolly’ Romero.
All the holding that Roach does to neutralize the offense of his opponents won’t work against ‘Pitbull’ Cruz because he fights through the clinches with short punches. If Lamont tries that tactic, I doubt it will be effective.
“Definitely a decision. I don’t see him stopping him. Lamont Roach is selective with his punches. He throws the right punch at the right time, and he can box,” said Davis.
Bernie is right with Roach’s only path to victory. If he’s going to win, it’s going to be by a decision because he doesn’t have the power to score a knockout of Cruz.
No where to run, no where to hide! WELCOME 2 THE REAPERS TABLE #ImBack pic.twitter.com/igC1INFzbg
— Lamont Roach Jr (@OneOf1x) October 5, 2025