Live Results: Cruz vs. Roach – Round by Round Coverage From San Antonio

Isaac ‘Pitbull’ Cruz (28-3-2, 18 KOs) retained his WBC interim light welterweight title with a 12-round majority draw against the late-surging Lamont Roach (25-1-3, 10 KOs) on Saturday night at the Frost Bank Center in San Antonio, Texas.

The scores

• 115-111 – Cruz
• 113-113
• 113-113

‘Pitbull’ dropped Roach in round three with a nice right hand and controlled most of the first six rounds. However, Cruz gassed out in the second half of the contest, allowing Roach to get back into the fight. In the seventh, the referee docked a point from ‘Pitbull’ for hitting below the belt, nailing Roach in the backside.

For Roach, he can’t be happy with the draw, because he needed the victory to open the door for him to get a title shot against WBC champion Subriel Matias, as well as other big fights. Now, all he can hope for is Shakur Stevenson giving him a title shot at lightweight for his WBC belt.

Undercard results

O’Shaquie Foster (24-3, 12 KOs) made it look easy, defeating Stephen Fulton (24-2, 8 KOs) by a wide 12-round unanimous decision to capture the WBC interim lightweight title in the co-feature. Fulton was surprisingly lost in the fight, unable to mount any offense against Foster’s superior skill.

At most, Fulton fought well enough to win round two, but that was it. Foster dominated with his pressure and defensive skills against the light-hitting Fulton. The scores were 117-111, 118-110, and 119-109. Thus far, only one of the undercard fights has been decent to watch on tonight’s expensive $74.99 PPV card.

Erislandy Lara (32-3-3, 19 KOs) labored to a dull 12-round unanimous decision against replacement opponent Johan Gonzalez (36-5, 34 KOs) in a successful defense of his WBA middleweight title. The 42-year-old Cuban Lara dropped Gonzalez in rounds one and twelve with left hands. Other than that, he did the minimum, taking a few chances against the overmatched sub. The scores were 118-108, 119-107, and 120-106.

Jesus Ramos Jr. (24-1, 19 KOs) dominated Shane Mosley Jr. (22-5-1, 12 KOs), beating him by a 12-round unanimous decision in middleweight action. It was a one-sided fight with Ramos Jr. landing a lot of left hands against the light-hitting Mosley Jr. There wasn’t much variation with Ramos Jr’s offense. It was all left hands, but that’s all he needed for this level of opponent.

The scores were:

• 116-112
• 117-111
• 117-111

The 24-year-old Ramos Jr. hurt Mosley Jr. in the 11th round with a left to the head, and flurried on him to try to finish him. Mosley Jr. showed a good chin, weathering the storm.

Frank ‘The Ghost’ Martin (19-0, 13 KOs) got off to a good start in his debut at 140, knocking out former two-division world champion Rances Barthelemy (30-4-1, 15 KOs) in the fourth round in a scheduled 10-round prelim fight.

Coming off a year-and-a-half layoff, Martin dropped the 39-year-old Cuban Barthelemy twice in the fourth round with left hands.

In the second knockdown. Martin nailed Barthelemy with a straight left to the jaw that put him down flat on his back. The referee then stepped in and halted the contest at 2:56 of round four. Martin had too much speed for Barthelemy and took advantage of that throughout the fight.

In the first round, Barthelemy was the busier fighter, landing frequent jabs against the shorter Martin. In rounds two and three. ‘The Ghost’ constantly turned, making it difficult for Barthelemy to land. The constant movement also negated Martin’s own offense, as he landed very little in those rounds.

Overall, Martin looked good, but he had the perfect opponent in front of him with an older, lighter puncher coming off a 20-month layoff. We’ll see how good Martin is if he faces one of the younger light welterweights like Gary Antuanne Russell, Subriel Matias, or Richardson Hitchins. It might be a different story than what we saw tonight.