Analyst Tim Bradley is critical of PBC’s match-making, choosing to bring the much smaller 5’4″ Isaac ‘Pitbull’ Cruz from the 135-lb division to challenge the much larger Rolando ‘Rolly’ Romero for his WBA light welterweight title on March 30th in the co-feature slot on Amazon Prime PPV at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
Bradley says this about how PBC matches smaller fighters against larger ones: “That’s their formula,” he doesn’t seem to like it. Rolly is arguably a 147-pounder who drains down to compete at 140 for a size advantage.
That’s what Rolly was doing when he fought at 135, and now he’s doing it at 140. It’s clear that if Rolly moved up to where he should be fighting at welterweight, his career would be over. He’s never going to beat Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis, and his career would be wrecked by the killers Giovani Santillan, Conor Benn, and Alexis Rocha.
Size Mismatch
“Ryan Garcia is a clown. He belongs in a zoo. He doesn’t know what’s going on with him. ‘Pitbull’ Cruz is a small little guy. He shouldn’t be fighting at 140 lbs. He’s at his best at 135,” said Tim Bradley to the State of Boxing, roasting Rolando ‘Rolly’ Romero for fighting the 5’4″ Isaac ‘Pitbull’ Cruz on March 30th on Amazon Prime PPV.
“Rolly should beat him. Rolly should be able to beat him with no problem at all,” Bradley continued about Romero’s clash against the tiny Pitbull Cruz in their co-feature slot on the Keith Thurman vs. Tim Tszyu card.
“Rolly is the bigger fighter, but let me say this. It’s going to be a good fight. Pitbull Cruz, he comes to fight, and so does Rolly. So stylistically, it’s going to be an explosion in the center of the ring. These guys are going to push each other to the limit; I’ll let you know that for as long as it lasts.
Matchmaking Strategies
“Somebody is going to get knocked out. I don’t think this fight is going to go the distance, but interesting matchup. Again, serving up a smaller guy [Cruz] to a bigger guy [Romero]. That’s PBC; that’s the way they do it. That’s their formula,” said Bradley, trashing PBC for their match-making style, which includes, in the main event, the smaller and older Thurman fighting the bigger Tszyu.
