Mexican southpaw Jose ‘Rayo’ Valenzuela 14-2 (9) lifted the WBA junior welterweight belt from reigning champion Isaac ‘Pitbull’ Cruz 26-3-1 (18) by split decision at BMO Stadium in Los Angeles, California on Saturday night.
It was a classy performance from the 25-yeaar-old Mexican southpaw, who boxed a measured fight to control much of the action in the main support bout to the world title defence between WBA junior middleweight champion Israil Madrimov and challenger Terence Crawford.
“I’m speechless, speechless for a dream that came true,” Valenzuela said. “I just had to be smart. I didn’t get desperate. I did not fall under the pressure. I just stayed calm. I felt great.
“I felt I was in control the whole time, using my speed, using my footwork. This is for my mom and dad and all the sacrifices they made.”
The five-foot-four Cruz, 26, also of Mexico, was giving away six inches in height to Valenzuela, but that is nothing unusual. What he did struggle with was Valenzuela’s clever boxing.
It seemed that every time Cruz closed the gap, Valenzuela has an answer for him. And when Cruz did managed to cross the threshold and get off with a nice three-punch combo to the body and head, Valenzuela soaked up the punishment, reset, and attacked again.
Cruz pressed hard but simply couldn’t find the sort of sustained success he required to retain his belt. Judges Rudy Barragan and Pat Russell both scored the bout for Valenzuela 116-112, while judges Edward Hernandez Sr saw the contest in favour of Cruz 115-113,
The story of the fight was reflected in the CompuBox statistics.
Cruz was only able to land 23% of his total punches and 27% of his power punches while Valenzuela landed 33% and 41% respectively. In addition to being more accurate, Valenzuela landed 53 more punches overall than Cruz and 26 more power punches than him.
Valenzuela achieved double digits in landed punches in 11 of the 12 rounds while Cruz reached double digits in five of the 12 rounds.
Still, Cruz insisted he won the fight.
“Just listen to this crowd,” he said. “They are the judges, not me. I just have to do my job and let everyone else decide.
“I would like to officially request a rematch. I would definitely like to throw that down.”
Before the bout, Cruz said he was expecting a tough fight, but insisted he had done everything neccesary to prepare for his rangy opponent.
“We’re expecting the very best from [Valenzuela], but the main thing is that I’m coming into this really well prepared and I’m intending to come away with the victory,” Cruz said.
Valenzuela was equally confident going into the bout, saying: “I have the height, I have the length, I have the skills and I’ve sharpened up everything to come prepared.”
