Hamburg, Germany – “’Pitbull’ mania is back February 1, in the type of fights that fans want to see,” said fight manager Sean Gibbons.
He was referring to the February 1 clash at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas between his former WBA junior welterweight titleholder Isaac Cruz and Angel Fierro.
Cruz last boxed when dropping his title to Jose Valenzuela in Los Angeles in August, cutting his career momentum with an unexpected defeat. Cruz was coming off of victories over Giovanni Cabrera and “Rolly” Romero, before he ran into the awkward Valenzuela.
Against Fierro, the 26-year-old Cruz is hoping to return to form and be in the type of exciting fights he made his reputation with.
“Mauricio [Sulaiman] didn’t announce it yet, but last Tuesday in Mexico City he announced that there would be a special belt in memory of Israel Vazquez,” Gibbons said. “There’s going to be a belt made for Mexican warriors [on the line between Cruz and Fierro]. People say, ‘Why didn’t you fight Rayo Valenzuela [in a rematch]?’ First of all, we won the fight, we just didn’t get the decision. And if I go to a party, and that party sucks, would I go back to that party? No.
“Rayo Valenzuela, love the guy – I’ve no issues with him – but his style stinks and as a matchmaker, I matched that fight. I take blame for a terrible style, because he’s not coming to fight. He did his job. My job wasn’t that good. At the time, when you watch tape, you never see that sometimes. The point was, you want to go back to important fights that people want to see. They come to the arena, they want to see Isaac fight somebody. Roly fought. [Yuriorkis] Gamboa fought. [Francisco] Vargas fought. ‘Tank’ [Gervonta Davis] fought. The difference is, styles make fights. It’s real simple in this game.”
Gibbons is certain that Fierro, 23-2-2 (18 KOs), will fight – and victory and the type of performance will set Cruz up for a run at a big fight.
“The idea is to come back and there’s two fights fans want,” Gibbons added. “The first fight people ask me about is Tank Davis, and I say he’s ready any time – you’ve got to check with Tank Davis. The goal is Tank Davis or Ryan Garcia. That’s what we’d love. If he wins convincingly on February 1, he’s a brand himself. We don’t need to chase guys. We’re not chasing them. But we want to make the fights the fans want to see and I believe that’s Tank Davis and Ryan Garcia.
“But first, we’re not overlooking Angel Fierro. I can tell you as a fan and as a matchmaker, you can’t get two better styles – the [Erik] Morales-[Marco Antonio] Barrera style. Isaac’s the Arturo Gatti of Mexico. That’s why he’s in great fights.”
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