By Sean Jones: Leo Santa Cruz says Isaac ‘Pitbull’ Cruz deserves a rematch with Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis after losing a controversial 12 round unanimous decision against the secondary WBA lightweight champion last month on December 5th.
The former four-division world champion Santa Cruz (37-2-1, 19 KOs) says if he were in Tank’s shoes, he would give Pitbull (22-2-1, 15 KOs) a rematch because he wouldn’t be comfortable with so many boxing fans feeling that he was given a questionable victory.
Tank is not bothered by his controversial win
For the record, the judges at the Staples Center in Los Angeles gave the Mayweather-promoted Tank Davis (26-0, 24 KOs) the victory by these scores: 115-113, 115-113, and 115-113.
This writer had Pitbull Cruz winning by a 115-113 score, as he wore down Tank and had him on the run in a full-scale retreat in the championship rounds of the contest.
The way that Tank crumbled mentally & physically against Pitbull, it was academic that he was the loser of the contest.
Sadly, the fact that Tank and his promoters at Mayweather Promotions were satisfied enough with the win to move on is more than a little disturbing.
Santa Cruz: Tank couldn’t handle Pitbull’s pressure
It looked to some like Tank couldn’t handle the steady pressure from the young 23-year-old Isaac Cruz, and the Mexican warrior’s pressure wore him down.
The effect of being hit to the body repeatedly by Pitbull and not given a moment’s rest was like a rock eroded by the steady drip of water. Tank looked depleted by the ninth and was forced to run.
“Working hard and having fun at the same time,” said Leo Santa Cruz to Fighthype. “I’ve been training hard and trying to stay focused and waiting for the fight date. I’m training and 133, 134.
“We’re ready. I want to be able to eat a little bit with Tomales, so at 130, and then if everything goes well for this fight, then in my next fight, I’ll probably move down to 126.
“We’ll see how I feel because, at 130 [super featherweight], I feel strong. I just got to get used to it, but we’ll see 130 or 126.
“That was a good fight,” said Santa Cruz on the recent Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis vs. Isaac ‘Pitbull’ Cruz match on December 5th. “Isaac, he came to fight, and Tank couldn’t throw his combinations like he wanted to.
“I think he wanted to try and knock him out. I’ve seen other fights from Tank, and he’s thrown combinations. He’s standing there and working, but he couldn’t do that with Pitbull.
“I think it was Pitbull’s style of coming forward, pressuring, pressuring, pressuring. Pitbull did a good fight; he did a hard fight,” said Santa Cruz.
If Mayweather Promotions had any sense of how much popularity Tank lost from his ‘win’ over Isaac Cruz, they would have already set up a rematch. But this is just another example of the promotion failing to realize how they’ve bungled things for Tank.
Leo says Pitbull deserves a rematch with Gervonta
It’s evident that Pitbull Cruz deserves a rematch with Tank Davis, but he’s not going to get one. It’s like Gennady Golovkin deserving a trilogy match with Canelo Alvarez after arguably being twice robbed of victories at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. There will be no rematch.
“The fight was really, really close; it could have gone either way,” said Santa Cruz on the Gervonta vs. Isaac Cruz fight. “It was a draw,” said Santa Cruz on his belief that Tank didn’t deserve his win over Isaac Cruz.
“The fight was really close. I’m not mad with the decision, but it was really close. Yeah, I think he [Pitbull Cruz] deserves a rematch, and I believe Tank will give it to him because you know it was controversial.
“People were saying that Isaac won,” continued Santa Cruz in the aftermath of Gervonta’s questionable victory over Pitbull. “So if I were in Tank’s shoes, I would give him the rematch because I would want to make it clear that I’m the REAL winner.
“I would try and make it perfectly the next time, more cleaner that I won the fight. So, of course, I would give him the rematch if was Tank,” said Santa Cruz.
Pitbull (22-2-1, 15 KOs) is currently negotiating a fight against Golden Boy-promoted fighter Ryan Garcia next in April.
That match has still yet to be announced. Still, if Cruz gets it, he’ll have the opportunity to defeat Ryan and put himself in a position to challenge for a title against WBC champion Devin Haney or undisputed champion George Kambosos Jr.