IT WAS announced yesterday evening that Isaac ‘Pitbull’ Cruz and Lamont Roach Jr will collide on December 6, headlining a pay-per-view card at the Frost Bank Center, Texas.
Their super-lightweight showdown comes as little surprise, having been mooted for a number of weeks, but is nonetheless a solid matchup that will see Cruz, 28-3-1 (18 KOs), put his WBC ‘interim’ title on the line.
The 27-year-old claimed his secondary belt with a unanimous decision victory over Omar Salcido in July, just over five months after his Fight of the Year candidate against Angel Fierro, who he also outpointed unanimously.
His duo of wins followed a far less convincing display, however, that saw the fan-friendly Mexican lose his WBA title to Jose Valenzuela last year.
Before that, Cruz was perhaps best known for giving Gervonta Davis his toughest test in 2021, only for Roach, 25-1-2 (10 KOs), to emphatically snatch that mantle earlier this year.
The 30-year-old certainly has a stronger case to argue that he should have beaten ‘Tank’, with their compelling lightweight encounter in March lending itself mostly to controversy.
But after being denied a 10-8 round, following what referee Steve Willis deemed a no-knockdown against Davis, Roach was ultimately forced to settle with a rather contentious draw.
It was widely expected, then, that the pair would collide for a second time in August, only for Davis to instead organise an exhibition match with Jake Paul for November 14.
With Roach now moving up to super-lightweight, meanwhile, it is likely that his WBA title at 130lbs will soon become vacant, hopefully allowing ‘interim’ champion James Dickens to defend the full title against Hayato Tsutsumi on December 27.
As for Cruz-Roach, it will likely arrive as irksome news for fans that a fight of this magnitude – hardly a PBC pay-per-view headliner in the traditional sense – has been placed behind a further paywall on Amazon Prime.
