With Vasiliy Lomachenko seemingly unwilling to face Gervonta “Tank” Davis this November, Isaac “Pitbull” Cruz says he’s ready to step in.
First, Cruz, the WBA junior welterweight titleholder, must get past the dangerous Jose “Rayo” Valenzuela (13-2, 9 KOs) on Aug. 3, in the co-feature to the Terence Crawford-Israil Madrimov 154-pound title headliner at BMO Stadium in Los Angeles.
“It is surprising because I thought it was almost a done deal, but then again, if he didn’t want to fight him, you’ve got to respect Lomachenko’s decision,” Cruz (26-2-1, 18 KOs) told BoxingScene. “And then that just means that I’m in top condition to be able to be considered to fight Gervonta on whatever date is available at the end of the year, and if it happens, I will be ready.”
PBC representatives for Davis (30-0, 28 KOs) negotiated for weeks with Top Rank and Lomachenko manager Egis Klimas to put together what might have been the biggest fight of 2024. The 135-pound unification was targeted for November in Las Vegas. All of that came to a halt when Klimas announced that his fighter had turned down the fight, opting instead to take the rest of the year off and spend more time with his family.
“I don’t know, but you got to respect his decision,” said Cruz. “I don’t know what other names you can bring to the table for Gervonta, but I only hope it can be attractive to the fans.”
Cruz is no stranger to Davis. As a late replacement for Rolando “Rolly” Romero in December 2021, Cruz gave the undefeated three-division champion the toughest bout of his career, going the distance with and losing a close decision to arguably the hardest pound-for-pound puncher in boxing. Cruz has been calling for a rematch ever since. Now there is a strong chance of it finally happening, provided Cruz gets by Valenzuela – no easy task.
“I’m going to be ready to go from the opening bell up to the final second of the fight,” Cruz said. “And my goal is to give fans a great show and to come out on top in the end.”
Bernard Neequaye is a sports journalist with a specialty in boxing coverage. He wrote a boxing column titled “From The Ringside” back in his native Ghana for years. He can be reached on X (formerly Twitter) at @BernardNeequaye, LinkedIn at Bernard Neequaye and through email at [email protected].
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