The Pechanga Arena in San Diego, CA filled with enthusiastic fight fans on September 19th to witness what was in many ways, a world title elimination bout in the World Boxing Council’s (WBC) Jr. Welterweight ratings as top contender and former world title challenger Isaac Cruz met fellow contender Nestor Bravo in a twelve round bout where Interim/Regular champion status with regard to the WBC, a designation held by Cruz would be at stake. Despite this being another fight where Cruz would put his status as a number one mandatory challenger on the line, it did have the look, at least on paper, of what could have been an interesting clash of styles between a short, yet compact and consistent pressure fighter in Cruz and a boxer in Bravo.
True to his moniker, Cruz began this bout the same way as he has the virtually every fight in his career, by pressing forward like a “Pitbull” and putting immediate pressure on Bravo. It would not be long before two things were quickly established in this fight. One, Isaac Cruz did not give his opponent much room to maneuver, and two, this made Nestor Bravo immediately uncomfortable, almost as though he were not prepared to combat Cruz’ constant pressure attack, or simply underestimated how quickly Cruz would be able to implement that strategy.
What resulted was frankly one of the more ugly, and at times confusing encounters in the recent history of Boxing. Just how confusing? In the interest of honesty with the reader, despite the decades of experience this observer has in covering the sport and by extension combat sports as a whole, having seen just about everything one could see on every possible level the sport has to offer from the amateurs, to traditional professional Boxing, to professional Bareknuckle Boxing, this was one of those fights where frankly, my head started to develop quite a headache and I could not determine where to start here.
This was due to a litany of circumstances that came in such rapid fire succession that it was hard, even in the technological age we are blessed to live in, to determine what should be first to discuss as well as my acknowledgement out front that Referee Thomas Taylor quickly became the central figure of this fight for reasons that he was not at fault for.
We begin with a knockdown of Bravo in round one courtesy of a left hook in which Bravo took Cruz down with him as he was going down to the canvas. From this point onward, things were very ugly as Bravo looked to hold constantly and seemed more intent on grappling with Cruz than trying to compete in an attempt to obtain victory. Perhaps the pressure of Cruz got to him early both from a physical as well as a mental standpoint and he was ill prepared to deal with both dynamics. It was not long before Bravo began flirting with disqualification as he threw Cruz to the canvas in round four and frequently drew the ire of Thomas Taylor to the degree that Taylor in anger physically spun Cruz after grabbing him by the shoulders and ordered him back to his corner after round two.
While it is not advisable for any referee to physically put their hands on a fighter unless it is a scenario where a referee is trying to stop a fight, it was in some ways understandable given how much holding Bravo was doing and the constant grappling that was occurring. This was followed Taylor admonishing Bravo that if he were disqualified that he would not be paid his purse including warning his corner that if there was a disqualification whether or not Bravo would be paid would be determined by the commission overseeing the bout, which in this case was the California State Athletic Commission (CSAC).
Although as this fight progressed I wondered whether or not this column would end up being more about the situation that evolved between Taylor and Bravo as well as a potential discussion of a referee though justified in his anger and frustration, potentially overstepping the bounds of what a referee should say and do in an attempt to regain control of a fight, though I agreed with Taylor as well as how he tried to gain control of what was a downright ugly fight to watch and probably worse from his perspective to officiate, Cruz had other ideas. A short left hook to the jaw sent Bravo down on the canvas in round six and he stayed down for the full ten count. What turned out to be a one punch knockout victory for Cruz essentially made the events that took place throughout the fight a moot point.
Perhaps the interesting aspect that emerged from this fight was not that Isaac Cruz maintained his number one ranking in the WBC’s Jr. Welterweight ratings, or that he would appear at least in theory to be in position to challenge the winner of the upcoming WBC World Jr. Welterweight championship fight between newly crowned champion Dalton Smith and top contender Alberto Puello on October 24th in Sheffield, England, but rather Cruz choosing to call out WBC World Welterweight champion Ryan Garcia. Garcia recently made a statement in his first title defense by scoring a second round knockout of top contender Conor Benn on September 14th. What makes this interesting is Cruz would presumably move up seven pounds to 147lbs. to make that fight and challenge Garcia. When one considers that Isaac Cruz is a short, but compact fighter standing 5’4 with a 63” reach compared to Garcia, who stands nearly 5’10 and would have a near seven inch reach advantage, at minimum it would create an interesting clash of styles as Cruz is used to facing fighters taller and longer than him, but the question will likely be if he can be effective in a heavier weight class after spending his career as a Jr. Welterweight. If the fight happens, he would be one of the shorter Welterweights on record or at least one that will at minimum test the waters of the Welterweight division.
While his call out of Garcia is no doubt in part financially driven as Garcia has evolved into one of the top fighters in the sport that commands top paydays due to a sizable fanbase, Cruz should keep in mind, despite Garcia spending the early part of his career also in the Jr. Welterweight division, he also is a naturally bigger man and as glorious as the history of the division has been, there have been several dominant Jr. Welterweights, who found the Welterweight division to be a step too far. Most notably, Julio Cesar Chavez, Sr. Whether Cruz makes the attempt to challenge Garcia remains to be seen, but it will no doubt be a hot ticket draw if it were to happen and would likely be one of the more interesting fights that could be made on paper in the sport.
“And That’s The Boxing Truth”
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