by Keith Idec
ISAAC CRUZ remains confident that public demand for his second fight against Gervonta Davis will ultimately become more important than his close loss to Jose Valenzuela in Cruz’s last outing.
That process will begin for Cruz on February 1, when the fierce fighter nicknamed “Pitbull” will meet countryman Angel Fiera in a Mexican showdown on the David Benavidez-David Morrell Jr. undercard. at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. Cruz and his manager, Sean Gibbons, are confident that Cruz’s impressive performance will put him back on track to secure the coveted rematch against Davis.
“Ultimately, in time, the fight will come,” Cruz told Boxing News ahead of Tuesday’s press conference in Mexico City promoting his fight with Fierro. “I’ll be focused on Fierra for now.”
Mexico City’s Cruz is usually considered the toughest opponent of Davis’ career.
Cruz (26-3-1, 18 KOs) lost a unanimous decision to Davis, but the relentlessly aggressive challenger tested the powerful southpaw and ended his 16-knockout streak in December 2021 at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. Davis defeated Cruz on the scorecards of judges Zachary Young (116-112), Carla Case (115-113) and Max De Luca (115-113).
Almost three years to the day later, Davis also took part in a press conference on Tuesday at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn to officially announce his upcoming bout with Lamont Roach. Baltimore’s Davis (30-0, 28 KOs) is scheduled to defend his WBA lightweight title against Roach (25-1-1, 10 KOs) in the main event of the PBC Pay-Per-View show on March 1 at the Barclays Center.
“You know in boxing one sensational win takes you back from the outdoors to the penthouse,” Gibbons said. “So a sensational win against Fierro opens the door again (for a Davis rematch) for sure.”
Valenzuela (14-2, 9 KOs), a Mexican-born southpaw who lives in Renton, Washington, mostly used a safe strategy on his way to a split decision win over Cruz in their 12-round fight for Cruz’s WBA 3 super lightweight title . in August. on the Terence Crawford-Israel Madrimov undercard at BMO Stadium in Los Angeles. Judges Rudy Barragan (116-112) and Pat Russell (116-112) each scored eight rounds for Valenzuela, who lost seven rounds to judge Edward Hernandez Sr. (115-113).
In his previous appearance, Cruz stopped Rolando “Rolly” Romero (16-2, 13 KOs) in the eighth round to win the WBA 140-pound championship from Romero last March 30 at the T-Mobile Arena. Davis previously knocked out Romero in the sixth round of their bout, which took place in May 2022 at the Barclays Center.
Cruz doesn’t feel Roach is capable of upsetting Davis, who opened as a 16-1 favorite over Tijuana’s Fiera (22-2-2, 17 KOs). If Cruz and Davis win their fights, which are scheduled to take place four weeks apart, Gibbons expects to re-establish plenty of momentum for the rematch.
“The public is only looking for Gervonta,” Gibbons said. “No matter where we are, wherever Isaac is, he runs into all kinds of black people and they say, ‘Hey, when are you going to fight Gervont?’ He’s walking down the street and the FedEx guy yells out the window, ‘When are you going to fight Tank?’ I saw that. There is so much demand for that fight. Gervonta knows that it was the hardest fight of his life. That’s why he doesn’t want any of that smoke.”