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“The Hardest Fight to Predict..”: Former World Champion Breaks Down Rolly Romero vs Isaac Cruz

Published 03/28/2024, 6:40 AM EDT

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The way pieces are set on the board, there’s a high chance that the Rolando RomeroIsaac Cruz co-main hijacks the inaugural PBC pay-per-view on Amazon Prime. The headline fight between Tim Tszyu and Keith Thurman took a hit when the latter pulled back on account of a sparring injury. As a result, Sebastian Fundora entered the scene. Hence, many fans and followers might still be coming to terms with the new arrangement. But most seem to share a hunch on how the Romero-Cruz bout would spin out. Shawn Porter, for one, appears to have some inkling.

The intriguing fight for Romero’s WBA light welterweight title beckons a full-throttle war between two hard-hitting boxers. Both Romero and Cruz share a similar fate. They suffered defeat at the hands of Gervonta Davis (now Abdul Wahid). However, ‘Rollie’ subsequently jumped up a division. He became a champion in the 140-pound division after the controversial knockout win over Ismael Barroso last year. But ‘Pitbull’ continued his journey in the lightweight division. On Saturday night, he fights his inaugural light-welterweight fight. When spoken to, ‘Showtime’ spared a few thoughts on the co-main thriller.

Ray Flores caught up with Shawn Porter. The TGB promotions and PBC’s host asked whether there’s a possibility of Isaac Cruz keeping a tight check on Rolando Romero. Provided the fight goes the whole way. “Well, social media standpoint, there’s a photo floating around of Isaac Cruz, and he looks in the best shape that we’ve ever seen him. So on that sort of thought process, it could appear that Isaac Cruz is going to try to set forth a phonetic piece and keep it on Romero throughout the entirety of the 12th round if it goes the distance,” asked Flores.

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Shawn Porter replied that the fight remains a tough nut to crack in terms of predicting the precise outcome. However, in terms of gauging how Isaac Cruz might fight, the bout remains fairly straightforward to predict.

He said, “Probably the hardest fight to predict in terms of how the outcome is gonna be, the easiest fight to predict in terms of how Isaac Cruz is going come all night. Coming right after Rollie.” According to ‘Showtime’, Cruz would chase down Romero “corner to corner, rope to rope.

Shawn Porter Mulls Rollie’s Strength Against ‘Pitbull’s Attack 

Hence, the recourse left with the American boxer would be to use his jabs to keep the ‘Pitbull’ away. Later, he can utilize his strength, for which he is well-known, to bring the Mexican’s attack to a halt. The former world champion said, “Rollie’s really gonna have to keep him off of the jab and then show that power that he’s shown in the past.

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Shawn Porter then revealed an age-old dictum of boxing. Many say that power is the last thing a boxer loses in a fight. So it doesn’t matter what a fighter has gone through in the ring. Or, for that matter, what he has done thus far in the fight. His strength would still remain with him.

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Anticipating something bizarre to happen in the Romero-Cruz fight, Shawn Porter believes the fight might turn out to be more engaging than it was anticipated. However, speaking about the fight, Oscar De La Hoya sounded less skeptical, picking Isaac Cruz to sail past the less talented ‘Rollie. Bookmakers, too, reportedly rate the fight as a tight bet, giving only a slight advantage to the Mexican boxer.

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Between Rolando Romero and Isaac Cruz, who is your pick for the win on Saturday night?

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Written by:

Jaideep R Unnithan

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One take at a time

Jaideep Unnithan is a senior boxing author at EssentiallySports. Inching towards the milestone of over 2000 articles, he has been a chronicler of day-to-day developments happening inside and outside of the squared circle. Having a keen eye on the punches traded inside the ring, he has written opinion pieces on the fighting styles of Floyd Mayweather Jr, David Benavidez, and Terence Crawford.
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Edited by:

Arijit Saha