By Allan Fox: Isaac ‘Pitbull’ Cruz (24-2-1, 17 KOs) was talking more today during his virtual press conference about his wanting to force a rematch against Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis than he was about his next fight against Giovanni Cabrera (21-0, 7 KOs) on July 29th on Showtime PPV.
Much of the popularity that Pitbull Cruz once had evaporated after he turned down a fight against Shakur Stevenson in what would have put him in a prime position to challenge for a world title if he’d accepted the invitation and beaten him.
Fans think Pitbull Cruz is scared of Shakur, and is going to dodge him forever to avoid getting beaten up.
Consistently fighting weak opposition and waiting for Gervonta to bless him again isn’t going to work for Pitbull Cruz. If he wants the rematch, he’s going to need to take some risks and fight quality opposition like Shakur, Keyshawn Davis, and Vasily Lomachenko.
Cruz vs. Cabrera is a WBA & WBC 135-lb title eliminator. It’s unclear why those two sanctioning bodies are making this fight a title eliminator, as there are higher-ranking contenders than both of those guys. Also, they already have mandatory challengers in place who have been waiting for their title shots.
Since losing to Tank Davis, Pitbull Cruz has beaten 40-year-old Yuriorkis Gamboa and Eduardo Ramirez. Those were not great strong contenders at 135.
If Pitbull Cruz wants to be taken seriously by fans as a worthy opponent for Tank Davis again, he needs to beat these fighters:
- Shakur Stevenson
- Frank Martin
- Vasily Lomachenko
- Keyshawn Davis
- Raymond Muratall
- Floyd Schofield
- Jamaine Ortiz
- William Zepeda
“I’m going to put on a show against Cabrera, and it’s going to be part of my effort to close every single door that Gervonta Davis has available so that he can’t escape and go anywhere so that he’s going to have to face me once again,” said Isaac ‘Pitbull’ Cruz to the media during today’s virtual press conference for his July 29th fight against Giovanni Cabrera.
“I have to prove that Isaac Cruz is the best at 135.”
Instead of focusing on Cabrera today, the 25-year-old Cruz was saying how he wants to trap WBA ‘regular’ lightweight champion Taank Davis to force him to give him a rematch.
Boxing fans see this as a transparent move by ‘Pitbull’ Cruz to get another payday against Gervonta because he lost to him in December 2021 by a twelve round unanimous decision. Cruz couldn’t beat Davis even with him fighting with just one arm due to an injury.
The money that ‘Pitbull’ Cruz made in the Gervontaa fight was good. Hence, he’s pushing hard to get a rematch that he hasn’t worked to get.
#3 WBC & #5 WBA lightweight contender ‘Pitbull’ Cruz faces Cabrera in a 10 round fight in the chief support bout on the Errol Spence Jr vs. Terence Crawford card next month at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
