Isaac “Pitbull” Cruz dethroned Rolando “Rolly” Romero live from T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on Saturday, March 30. The highly anticipated bout served as the co-feature on the card headlined by Tim Tszyu vs Sebastian Fundora.
Cruz took a dominant win against Romero, tagging, hurting and dominating the defending champion from the opening round. The scheduled for 12 rounds super lightweight bout ended prior to the final bell. Referee Thomas Taylor called it a day at 56 into the eighth round.
In the fifth round Romero was deducted a point for holding. At the time of the stoppage the scores were 69-63, 65-66, 68-64 in favor of the challenger.
With the victory by TKO, Isaac Cruz claimed world title on his second attempt and became a new WBA 135-pound champion in his new weight class. The Mexican 25-year-old improved to 26-2-1, 18 KOs and secured his fourth win in a row.
“I’m very happy and humbled to win this title for my family and for Mexico,” said Cruz. “I was prepared for this. I wasn’t here to just fight. I was here to terminate him… I did my talking right here in the ring. And I did this not just for me, but for everybody that is here at T-Mobile Arena. There’s going to be a Mexican champ at 140 pounds for a long time.”
“I fought with the intention to leave the decision out of the judges’ hands. Mission accomplished.”
“I am not here just to be a dangerous fighter. I now have a title that is backing me up. So anybody that is available, I’ll be ready.”
Rolando Romero didn’t succeed in his first title defense and lost the belt. The 28-year-old Las Vegas native dropped to 15-2, 13 KOs.
“We gave the fans a great fight,” said Romero. “Unfortunately, we came up short. I want to thank ‘Pitbull’ Cruz and all the fans that came out and made this a great event. I’ll be back.”
Get Tszyu vs Fundora full fight card results.