Isaac Cruz has officially arrived.
The relentless “Pitbull” battered WBA140-pound titleholder Rolando Romero before finally stopping him in the eighth round to win his first major world championship on the Tim Tszyu-Sebastian Fundora card Saturday in Las Vegas.
The fight was stopped 56 seconds into Round 8.
“I’m very happy and humbled to win this title for my family and for Mexico,” said Cruz, who was the target of trash talk from Romero leading up to the fight. “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.”
Cruz (26-2-1, 18 KOs) did his thing from the opening bell, which is to plow forward and wing hard punches to the head and body. Romero (15-2, 13 KOs) tried to counter, tried to get out of the way but simply had no answer for the onslaught.
Cruz almost took Romero out in the opening round when he rocked him with a left hook to the temple. Romero survived but that only prolonged the inevitable.
The new champion continued to walk Romero down, pounding him to every legal target on the body as the old champ jabbed, moved, held and sometimes fired back in an attempt to survive. Romero caught Cruz with solid shots coming in on occasion but he never fazed the Mexican once, which seemed to seal his fate.
Cruz again almost took out Romero in the final minute of Round 7, when he battered Romeo around the ring and took nothing in return. Again, Romero survived.
The end came the following round when Cruz unloaded a vicious flurry of hard, accurate shots that seemed to paralyze Romero, which prompted referee Thomas Taylor to jump between them to stop the action.
Cruz has now won four consecutive fights since he was outpointed by WBA 135-pound champ Gervonta Davis in 2021.
Romero is now 1-2 in his last three fights. He was stopped by Davis in six rounds in 2022.
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