By Scott Gilfoid: Top lightweight contender undefeated Urbano Antillon (23-0, 16 KOs) had a much tougher time than expected in defeating Colombian Jose Leonardo Cruz (12-3-2, 8 KOs) by a 6th round stoppage of scheduled 8-round bout on Friday night at the Sovereign Performing Arts Center, in Reading, Pennsylvania. After losing a couple of the early rounds of the fight, Antillon came on to take the fight to the inexperienced Cruz keeping him under constant pressure and landing hard shots for most of the rounds. The fight was stopped after the 6th round due to Cruz’s left eye which had swollen almost completely shut giving him only a small crack to see out of.

Though Cruz, 32, was only two inches taller than Antillon at 5’9″, he looked much bigger than him, almost like a giant in comparison. Cruz’s size advantage, as well as his much longer arms, served him well in the first three rounds at which time he was able to land frequently with long jabs and hard hooks to the head of the smaller Antillon. Though Antillon, 25, a former 2000 National Golden Gloves Lightweight Champion, had the much better form, and equally hard shots, his punches had no effect on Cruz whatsoever. I suspect it may have been because of Cruz’s size advantage, which allowed him to take the diminutive Antillon’s shots with no trouble, then bumping him off like he was a pesky flea.

Cruz’s long arms were a tremendous advantage for him in the early going, because he was able to land at a distance with hooks and jabs, and there wasn’t much that Antillon could do during these times other than punch at air and try to work his way in close so as to land his own shots. Cruz landed a high number of hard hooks in rounds one though three, and it seemed as if he was the better fighter during this action. I mean, he didn’t look like a 12-3 record, as he was fighting the highly hyped Antillon to a virtual standstill during this time, keeping him from getting off his own shots and exposing him for his limited reach.

In the 4th round, the combination of Antillon’s heavy pressure and Cruz’s increasing fatigue, seemed to turn the fight around. Cruz was boxing more and slugging much less, but he was repeatedly getting tracked down by Antillon, who appeared to have discovered a way to close the distance between the two – by rushing at Cruz quickly in a crouch – in a rapid manner. Once in punching range, Antillon would land some withering shots to Cruz’s midsection, before the Colombian would escape to the safety of the outside and his long reach. Cruz’s left eye began to swell during this round, and it seemed obvious that the fight would be stopped if the swelling got any worse. It did.

In rounds five and six, Cruz bravely attempted to fight back with only one working for him, moving constantly and firing off right hands. Antillon, though, continued with his forward movement getting inside and giving Cruz a lot of problems with hard shots to the body and head. Antillon seemed to make it a point to mix up his punches, always moving from head to body or vice and versa. This kept Cruz guessing always, because he could never defend against just his head or body due to the variation in Antillon’s shots. Antillon also mixed up the style of his punching, throwing straight shots, hooks and uppercuts.

Antillon’s straight punches looked especially formidable as they would make a loud noise when they landed and would snap Cruz’s head back each time. Antillon landed with a lot of big shots in the 6th round, and it seemed that Cruz wouldn’t be able to take much more if the fight were allowed to continue into the 7th. By this time, however, Cruz’s left eye had swollen up to grotesque proportions, bulging out like a huge bubble. For this reason, the ringside doctor requested that the fight be stopped after the 6th round. It was a good stoppage, though Cruz’s corner wasn’t too happy about it judging by the protests made.

All in all, a rather poor performance by Antillon. He’s a good fighter, I admit freely, but I don’t see him in the class of a Manny Pacquiao and Edwin Valero. He could probably beat a lesser fighter like Alex Arthur, but as far as beating the top fighters like Valero and Pacquiao, I don’t see it ever happening. He’s just too short and his reach is far too limited for his own good.