Promoter Eddie Hearn says he wants to match lightweight contender Andy Cruz against a top ten contender next when he returns to the ring in May or June following his lopsided ten-round unanimous decision win over Brayan Zamarripa tonight at the Caribe Royale in Orlando, Florida.
One name that Hearn would like to match against Cruz next is #3 WBO Angel Fierro (22-1-2, 17 KOs), who is coming off a 10-round split decision win over Zamarripa last September.
Olympic Gold Medalist Ready for Bigger Challenges
Hearn feels that it was a “complete mismatch” with the way the 2020 Olympic Cuban gold medalist Cruz (3-0, 1 KO) dominated Zamarripa (14-3, 5 KOs), and the scores reflected that. The judges scored it 100-99, 100-99 and 100-99.
“What we saw tonight was a complete mismatch with Andy Cruz just battering Zamarripa. That’s just the level that he’s at,” said Eddie Hearn to the media after Andy Cruz’s 10-round unanimous decision win over Brayam Zamarripa on Saturday night.
“May or June at the latest. I want to keep him nice and active now,” said Hearn about when he plans on bringing Andy Cruz back. “He did ten rounds tonight. It was a lot of work. He didn’t get hit a lot. We’ll speak to the team, and in May or June, he’ll be back.
“It has to be,” said Hearn when asked if it’ll be a top ten opponent for Cruz. “Angel Fierro, who is #3 with the WBO, who beat Zamarripa. That’s a great fight. You saw with Staffon that he comes to fight. Andy actually walked him down. That’s two back-to-back fights.”
Potential Opponents to Truly Test Cruz
Fierro isn’t much of a bump up in competition for the 28-year-old Cruz, given that he the guy barely beat Zamarripa last September with a razor-close 10 round split decision. A better choice for Andy Cruz to fight next if the idea is to create interest in his career is against one of these fighters:
- Raymond Muratalla
- Keyshawn Davis
- Abdullah Mason
- Edwin De Los Santos
- Floyd Schofield
- Artem Harutyunyan
- Maxi Hughes
- Joe Cordina
- Jose Valenzuela
- William Zepeda
- Nahir Albright
Strategic Matchmaking
“He did it a little bit against Burgos, where he’s actually walking an opponent down. I really enjoyed what I heard from [trainer] Bozy [Ennis to Cruz]. ‘Walk him down. Let your hands go.’ I’m like, ‘Whoa.’ So, they’re getting him to fight in that style.
“Now, we got to face that kind of opposition. We got to face a real top ten guy next because he’s just going to breeze through all these guys,” Hearn continued about Andy Cruz. “When he fights a guy in the top ten, he’s going to breeze through that guy.
