Lamont Roach is a professional boxer and the unluckiest fighter in the sport
On Saturday night in San Antonio, Texas, he deserved a win over over Isaac Cruz, but for the second time in a row, he was forced to accept a controversial draw. This time, one judge scored the fight for Cruz, the other two judges scored it 113-113.
Roach had issues with Cruz’s style early in the fight and was even dropped for the first time in his career in the third round.
Roach bounced back. He seemed to download the data, gain Cruz’s timing and subsequently outboxed him for most of the second half of the fight.
A frustrated Cruz seemed to resort to some illegal tactics (holding and hitting) which cost him a point. The point deduction essentially eliminated the point he gained from the knockdown
Late in the fight, Cruz tried to summon a late run, but Roach’s skill level and poise looked to be the difference–only the judges saw it differently.
On the heels of his controversial draw against Gervonta Davis and his unsuccessful attempt to face Tank in a rematch, Roach’s inability to knock opponents out keeps him from taking the decision out of the judges’ hands.
After the fight, Roach said he didn’t get a fair shake. Cruz blamed the referee for taking a point away from him. Had that not happened, this decision would have been even worse as Cruz would have won a unanimous decision.
As it is, we’ll see if they get a chance to go at it again.
Foster Dominates the Co-Main Event
Stephen Fulton missed weight for what was supposed to be a 126-pound title fight, so the bout was changed to an interim lightweight title matchup. You gotta love boxing. Nonetheless, Fulton proved to be no match for O’Shaquie Foster as the latter waltzed to an easy unanimous-decision victory in a less-than thrilling, but excellent performance for the victor.
Foster can now determine if he plans on staying at 130 pounds or fighting for another title at 126 pounds.
Lara Outboxes and Drops Gonzalez
Erislandy Lara was supposed to be in a title unification bout with Janibek Alimkhanuly on Saturday night. However, Alimkhanuly tested positive for a banned substance and was removed from the card.
Johan Gonzalez stepped in to face Lara for his middleweight title and he had nothing for the 40-year-old Cuban. Lara’s boxing skills and overall acumen for the sport proved to be too much. Lara even dropped Gonzalez late to punctuate his performance.
He marched to an easy unanimous-decision win.
Martin Destroys Barthelemy
While it was a mismatch on paper and something of an expected outcome, Frank Martin’s explosive KO win might be the thing most boxing fans are talking about through the weekend.
Take a look at this knockout.
Here’s a look at all of the results from the card.
- WBC interim super lightweight title: Lamont Roach vs. Isaac Cruz via majority draw
- WBC interim lightweight title: O’Shaquie Foster def. Stephen Fulton via unanimous decision (117-111, 118-110, 119-109)
- WBA middleweight title: Erislandy Lara def. Johan Gonzalez via unanimous decision (118-108, 119-107, 120-106)
- Middleweight: Jesus Ramos Jr. def. Shane Mosley Jr. via unanimous decision (116-112, 117-111, 117-111)
- Super lightweight: Frank Martin def. Rances Barthelemy via fourth-round KO
- Super welterweight: Isaac Lucero def. Roberto Valenzuela Jr. – via eighth-round TKO
- Super bantamweight: Luis Reynaldo Nunez def. Hector Andres Sosa – (98-92, 97-93, 96-94)
