LAS VEGAS – With the WBC’s new Aztec Warrior belt on the line, the family of recently departed Mexican fighting legend Israel Vazquez on hand to honor him and consecrate the ceremonial title and a T-Mobile Arena crowd decidedly jacked for the matchup, Isaac Cruz and Angel Fierro couldn’t have done more to honor the moment than fight their asses off.
In Saturday’s all-Mexican10-round junior welterweight clash, Cruz outslugged Fierro in an action fight befitting the moment, earning a unanimous decision by scores of 98-92, 97-93 and 96-94 on the undercard of the David Benavidez-David Morrell Jnr light heavyweight main event.
Mexico City’s Cruz, 27-3-1 (18 KOs), got right to it, making a hard beeline for Fierro, 23-3-2 (18 KOs), of Tijuana, Mexico, and letting his hands go from the opening bell. He was taking massive cuts, swinging (and often landing) with the kind of power that would leave him torqued in a Reggie Jackson post-home run pose.
Cruz landed sizzling hooks and poleax right hands that backed up Fierro, who kept looking for a corner of the ring where he could take a breath. Cruz wouldn’t give it to him. Fierro kept poking his jab, but Cruz would either counter to the body or come over the top with a screaming right hand. The fight looked like it might go sideways in a hurry.
But in the final minute of the third, Fierro seemed to decide fight might make a better option than flight. He dug in and exchanged with Cruz for the first time, holding up well despite absorbing a heavy barrage. He even landed some big shots himself – none bigger than a right hand to the chin that seemed to send Cruz briefly pitching forward. Cruz, who seemed momentarily punched out, was now getting punched up, too.
But he recovered quickly, and in Round 4 Cruz returned to pouring on heavy right hands upstairs and hooking lefts to Fierro’s midsection. In the fifth, as both fighters seemed to tire, Cruz landed a couple of nasty hooks to send Fierro’s jaw horizontal and then finished with a flurry before the bell.
Still Fierro engaged. He even began to lead the action in the sixth, backing up Cruz, who had lost some steam on his punches and whose work rate had dipped. If the scores at the halfway point were in Cruz’s favor, it was at least now an even fight.
The seventh was slower and sloppier, but each fighter continued to take the shortest vector to the other to squeeze in as many swings as they could muster. Cruz was landing the more punishing stuff, including several head-snapping shots that drew gasps from the crowd, while Fierro’s attack was chippier and more accurate. Who knew where the judges’ preferences would lie?
In the final minute of the ninth, Cruz and Fierro stood at center ring and fired away, with Cruz landing a right-handed exclamation point to Fierro’s chin that punctuated the round. After the bell and a break in the corners, they met again at center ring for the final round, exchanged a few respectful words and touched gloves.
If the 10th wasn’t quite Round of the Year material, it was damn good fun – and the proper closer for Cruz. Fierro emptied the clip, but Cruz had the heavier artillery – a series of powerful left hooks and straight rights – and landed much of it surprisingly cleanly for how much the fighters’ had taken out of one another.
According to CompuBox stats, Cruz landed 248 of 624 total punches (for a 40 percent connect rate), compared to 238 of 786 (30 percent) for Fierro.
As a final crescendo, the fighters each grabbed an end of the Aztec Warrior, or Guerrero Azteca, belt – its plating etched with the name of Israel Vazquez – and raised it high in a salute to the moment and an appreciative crowd.
In the fight preceding Cruz-Fierro, junior middleweight contender Jesus Ramos Jnr moved up – in weight but not, as it turns out, in class – to obliterate Jeison Rosario for an eighth-round stoppage win.
Ramos, 23, had the superior quickness, slicker footwork and stronger engine, and his blistering work to the body of Rosario, 29, allowed him to then stroll through the front door with a near-constant stream of punishment.
Taking the initiative from the start, Ramos, 21-1 (17 KOs), began piling up points and closed the third with a combination and an on-the-button uppercut to wow the partisan crowd, many of whom undoubtedly made the trip from in and around his Casa Grande, Arizona, hometown.
A left hook midway through the fourth spun Rosario’s head and sent spittle flying. Ramos didn’t so much stalk Rosario as swarm him, turning, slipping in and out, working from all angles and painting him with gallons of leather. Through five rounds, Ramos had outlanded Rosario 135-37, according to CompuBox.
Ramos subtly downshifted in the seventh, allowing Rosario to come to him. Rosario obliged, which turned out to be a bad idea. Ramos countered a jab with a right hook and straight left hand to the crown that sent Rosario face-first to the canvas. Rosario wobbled to his feet and rode out the final seconds before the bell.
It was a postponement of the inevitable. In the eighth, Ramos broke down Rosario and eventually, after jabbing Rosario’s gloves back into his face, came around the guard with a right hook that shivered Rosario down to his boots. When referee Robert Hoyle stepped in at 2:18 of the round, Rosario offered mild protest, but it was a reasonable enough stoppage based on the damage done and what Rosario, 24-5–2 (18 KOs), had shown to that point.
Jason Langendorf is the former Boxing Editor of ESPN.com, was a contributor to Ringside Seat and the Queensberry Rules, and has written about boxing for Vice, The Guardian, Chicago Sun-Times and other publications. A member of the Boxing Writers Association of America, he can be found at LinkedIn and followed on X and Bluesky.
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