'Pitbull' Cruz mauls Gamboa, drops him three times en route to 5th-round knockout

Valenzuela crushes Vargas; Crowley punishes Lopez; Stanionis outpoints Butaev for a welterweight belt; Lee outpoints Ochoa

Apr 17, 2022

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Lightweight contender Isaac “Pitbull” Cruz rebounded from a disputed decision loss in his last fight to lay waste to the faded Yuriorkis Gamboa in a fifth-round knockout victory on Saturday night in the co-feature of the Errol Spence Jr.-Yordenis Ugas undercard at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.

In December, Cruz lost a close decision many thought he won when he challenged Gervonta “Tank” Davis for his secondary lightweight belt. Fighting for the first time since, Cruz pummeled the 40-year-old former unified featherweight titlist, who lost his third fight in a row.

Gamboa (30-5, 18 KOs), a 2004 Cuban Olympic gold medalist, who defected and fights out of Miami, had never been so utterly outclassed as he was by Cruz, who dropped him in the second, third and fourth rounds.

“I’m here to defeat and dethrone anyone that gets in my way while putting on a show for the fans,” Cruz said through an interpreter. “I wanted to send a clear message to the division that I’m here to be a world champion no matter what.”

Cruz (23-2-1, 16 KOs), 23, of Mexico, dropped Gamboa with a four-punch combination in the second round and again with a left hook in the opening seconds of the third round.

Gamboa’s legs never looked steady after the second knockdown but he was game in taking a pounding.

Cruz battered him in the opening seconds of the fourth round and sent him to the mat for the third knockdown in final seconds of the round on a huge left hand.

Finally, in the fifth round, Cruz was again smashing Gamboa up and when he sent him careening into the ropes, referee Mark Calo-oy waved it off at 1 minute, 32 seconds.

Valenzuela destroys Vargas

Fast-rising lightweight prospect Jose Valenzuela needed just 85 seconds to blast out faded former junior lightweight titleholder and heavy underdog Francisco Vargas in impressive fashion.

Valenzuela (12-0, 8 KOs), 22, a Mexico native based in Seattle, where he trains with former two-time super middleweight titlist David Benavidez, barely broke a sweat before landing a clean left hand on Vargas’ chin to drop him hard.

Vargas was in duress and referee Mark Calo-oy stopped the fight.

“I worked very hard for this,” Valenzuela said. “I was expecting him to come forward and throw a lot of punches and be more aggressive. But I stayed patient, used my jab and went to the body. I learned a lot from David Benavidez. I get a chance to look behind the scenes and see what he does. He just tells me to be patient, take my time with it and that’s what I did.

“He came in with a jab, I took a little step back, and I had already hit him with a few body shots, so when I did a little dip I think he thought I was going to the body. I just swooped him upstairs.”

Vargas (27-4-2, 19 KOs), 37, of Mexico, lost his second fight in a row. However, in the other loss he went the 10-round distance with contender Isaac Cruz. Still, Vargas is long in the tooth after having taken enormous punishment over the years, including in the 2015 and 2016 fights of the year, when he won the WBC junior lightweight title by dramatic comeback ninth-round knockout of Takashi Miura and then fought to a draw with Orlando Salido in his first defense.

“Valenzuela connected and the ref simply didn’t let me continue. I was perfectly fine,” Vargas said. “The ref didn’t let me do anything else. I think that perhaps his decision was overzealous. It looked clumsy and it may have looked bad, but I was fine. This is tough. This is hard to swallow because I had never been dropped like that before. We are going to talk and see what’s next for us."

Crowley routs Lopez

Canadian welterweight contender Cody Crowley delivered a 10-round beating to onetime contender Josesito Lopez in a lopsided decision victory.

Crowley won 99-90, 98-91 and 98-91 in a fight that Lopez trainer Robert Garcia was on the verge of stopping following the seventh, eighth and ninth rounds because former title challenger Lopez was absorbing tremendous punishment. Each time, however, the game Lopez said he wanted to go on.

“Shout out to Josesito Lopez. I love you. You’re a warrior,” Crowley said. “I wouldn’t be able to do this without you. I just train hard and come in and give it 110 percent effort every single day. I’ve had so much adversity throughout my life. This week, I had a rotten tooth in my mouth that was falling out. I can’t feel my face right now. I had a chest infection. I’m still here. I had no test scale. I came in 2½ pounds light. It’s just one adversity after another but every time I show up and get the job done no matter what.”

Crowley (21-0, 9 KOs), 28, a southpaw, had his biggest moment in the seventh round when he dropped Lopez (38-9, 21 KOs), 37, of Riverside, California.

“I believe I’m one of the best welterweights in the world,” Crowley said. “I just have to keep beating whoever is placed in front of me and eventually I’m going to get my shot.

“I want to bring a world title back to Canada. Canada supports so much. You see what happens when the Raptors win a championship. The Toronto Maple Leafs hardly make it to the playoffs and they sell out every single game. Canada just needs a horse to ride behind and I’m that horse. I guarantee we’ll sell out every arena when you bring Cody Crowley.”

Lopez gave Crowley credit for beating him.

“I just wasn’t quite feeling myself tonight. Not taking anything away from my opponent,” Lopez said. “He did well, moved well and punched well. Credit to him. He did his job. I just felt a little sluggish and I think you could tell. The future is to just rest for a week or two and then go back to the drawing board and keep grinding and working hard.”

Stanionis lifts belt from Butaev

Welterweights Eimantas Stanionis and Radzhab Butaev fought mostly chest to chest for 12 hard rounds in a grueling fight.

In the end, Stanionis won by split decision to take Butalev’s secondary WBA and become the next mandatory challenger for main event winner Errol Spence Jr., who unified three titles.

Two judges scored it for Stanionis, 117-110 and 116-111, and one had it for Butaev, 114-113, who was dethroned in his first defense since taking the belt by ninth-round knockout from Jamal James in October.

“It was a dream come true to hear ‘and the new.’ When I was a kid, I visualized what this would look like and how it would feel to become a champion,” Stanionis said. “It’s because of the hard work, dedication, belief in myself and my team to get me to this big stage. I just want to tell everybody that dreams do come true. If you believe in it and give your everything it will happen.”

Despite having his faced marked up and nose bloodied, Stanionis (14-0, 9 KOs), 27, a 2016 Olympian from Lithuania, landed the harder, more telling punches. He rocked Butaev with right hands and used a steady jab to score the biggest win of his career.

Butaev raised swelling on Stanions’ forehead in the 10th round. In the 11th round, Butaev (14-1, 11 KOs), 28, a New York-based Russian, who had a small cut over his left eye, had a point deducted by referee Rafael Ramos for pushing down on Stanionis’ neck when they were in a clinch. Ramos had warned him for the foul multiple times.

If there was any doubt that Stanionis deserved the victory, he closed the fight with a big 12th round. He landed a thumping left hook early in the round and then caught Butaev with a tremendous right hand on the chin in the final seconds.

“The fight went like this because the referee allowed Stanionis to fight with his head down the entire time,” Butaev said. “What can I do if the guy is leading with his head down all the time? I don’t know why he took away a point from me. They should have taken the point away from him because he was diving in the whole time.”

Lee cruises past Ochoa

Junior welterweight prospect Brandun Lee went past the seventh round for the first time in a one-sided decision win over Zachary Ochoa in a fight contracted at 143 pounds.

Although Lee won 99-91, 99-91 and 98-92, and controlled the fight from the outset, he could never land his vaunted right hand that has stopped so many opponents.

“I think that only two rounds were close, the seventh and maybe the ninth,” Lee said. “It was exactly what I expected. Perhaps I could have performed better, my combinations been a bit sharper, but it was a good fight overall. Fighting at AT&T Stadium was a blessing. Wow, what an experience. It motivates me even more to come back here and be a headliner one day.

“I want to be a world champion at 140, unify titles, become undisputed and then become a world champ at 147.”

Former prospect Ochoa (21-3, 7 KOs), 29, of Brooklyn, New York, spent much of the fight moving and trying to avoid the big punch before landing some of his best punches in the final two rounds.

Although Lee (25-0, 22 KOs), 22, of La Quinta, California, did not land the big one or come close to getting a knockdown, he did mark up Ochoa’s face in the dominating win.

“Brandun Lee is a really good fighter, a strong fighter,” Ochoa said. “I feel I was doing really well. He caught me a little bit, but I kept my confidence, my poise and when it was time to step it up the last three rounds, I started putting the pressure on him and we went at it. I went all out. He’s never had it like that. I only got hurt one time, maybe at the end of the seventh. I know I buzzed him too.

“They should have given me the last two rounds but it is what it is. He ain’t never messed with someone like me. I’ll be back. I haven’t fought in a year and we were supposed to fight at 140. I’m a 135-pounder and we fought at a 143 catch weight. But my next fight I’ll be at 135.”

Photos: Amanda Westcott/Showtime; Crowley-Lopez photo: Ryan Hafey/PBC

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