On Saturday night, in an exciting fight that left fans wanting more, Isaac “Pitbull” Cruz and former world champion Lamont Roach battled 12 rounds, and the fight ended in a majority draw in the main event from Frost Bank Center in San Antonio.
One judge scored the fight 115-111 for Cruz, which was overruled by two scores of 113-113.
This fight, which was fought at 140 pounds, saw Cruz (28-3-2, 18 KOs) get the better of the action early. Cruz would land a beautiful left hook that backed Roach (25-1-3, 10 KOs) up and caused his glove to hit the canvas, which was scored as a knockdown.
As the fight went on, Roach started boxing more, and according to CompuBox, would outland Cruz 191-159. Additionally, Roach outlanded Cruz in eight out of the 12 rounds. Furthermore, in two other rounds, the number of punches landed was even. Roach also had the edge in power punches(142-132).
The 30-year-old Roach, who had a controversial draw against Gervonta Davis in his last fight, felt he did enough to win.
“All I want is a fair shake,” said Roach. “I think I should have won a close victory. All I want is a fair shake. That’s it…I don’t know what I got to do. I don’t accept this at all. I clearly thought I won a close fight. I’m tired of this.”
Like Roach, the 27-year-old Cruz, who was deducted a point in Round 7 for low blows, believes he should have gotten the nod on the judges’ scorecards.
“I did my job,” said Cruz. “I did my work. The ref was on his side. The judges, too. The crowd in San Antonio saw I won this fight…Absolutely, I’d do a rematch. With a different referee who is not on his side. The referee took this fight from me.”
This was a close fight, and while Roach probably did enough to win, Cruz has the bigger name, which helps. In the end, this was fun, so let’s run it back.
Photo: Dylan Trevino/Premier Boxing Champions
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