Lightweight contender Andy Cruz (5-0, 2 KOs) put on a masterclass performance, defeating Omar Salcido (20-2, 14 KOs) by a lopsided 10-round unanimous decision in their co-feature bout on Saturday night at The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas, Chelsea Ballroom, in Las Vegas.
The 2020 Olympic gold medalist Cruz hurt Salcido in rounds nine and ten with powerful shots he never saw coming. In the last seconds of the tenth, Salcido was out on his feet after getting caught by a right hand from Cruz, and he was forced to hold to survive.
Cruz had Salcido hurt in rounds eight, nine and ten. However, Cruz was hesitating after hurting him, and wasn’t going after him the way he had Antonio Moran last August. The reason for that is that Salcido had more power, and he caught Cruz with some shots that he didn’t expect when he was on the attack.
In the tenth, Cruz went all out and didn’t care of Salcido caught him with a shot. He wanted the knockout, and he came close to getting it. If not for Sacido’s holding, he would have stopped him.
The Scores
99-91
98-92
98-92
Cruz landed 203 of 610 punches for a 33% connect rate. For his part, Salcido landed 53 of 474 for 13%.
It could have been far worse in Cruz’s favor if Salcido had opened himself up more by throwing punches, but he looked scared to throw because he was getting countered so much. His trainer, Jose Benavidez Sr, was trying to motivate him to let his hands go, but he wasn’t following his instructions.
If you compare Salcido’s performance against Chris Colbert on October 16, 2024, he fought completely differently. Salcido wasn’t afraid to attack Colbert, throwing a lot of punches and pressuring. We didn’t see that from him against Cruz.
ANDY CRUZ SECURES THE W ✅✅✅#PachecoNelson | live now on DAZN pic.twitter.com/g5DrG8qdXa
— DAZN Boxing (@DAZNBoxing) January 26, 2025
This performance from Cruz may have stolen the show for tonight’s event, but we’ll have to see what super middleweight contender Diego Pacheco does in the main event in his 12-round fight against Stevenson Nelson.