The unofficial race to become the face of Mexican boxing is underway.
Super-middleweight champion Canelo Alvarez, the country’s biggest star for more than a decade, has begun to decline in the opinion of many observers. That means someone will soon replace him on the coveted throne.
The list of potential candidates is not long. Setting aside Alvarez and longtime star Juan Francisco Estrada for the sake of his fitness, among the names that come to mind: Jaime Munguia, Emanuel Navarrete, Oscar Valdez and William Zepeda.
And, of course, there’s a strong, 135-pound contender, 25-year-old and emerging Isaac Cruz, who could lead the group.
Oddly enough, it was a setback that lifted “Pitbull” to where it is now, his consensus, but dispute resolution against heavyweight Gervonta Davis at the age of 23 in December 2021. No one pushed Davis harder than Cruz, who faced Giovanni Cabrera on the Terence Crawford-Errol Spence Jr. card. on July 29.
His fans back home have certainly noticed, what he thinks is “something beautiful” because the acclaim comes sooner than he expected. However, he believes that he is still in the process of conquering them.
“I don’t feel like I have fans in my back pocket,” he told Boxing Junkie through a translator. “I have to keep honing, keep working to get the fans on my side.”
The honing continued in less than two weeks, when he faced Cabrera (5 foot-9) on the pay-per-view from T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
Cabrera (21-0.7 KOs) will be Cruz’s third relatively unconventional opponent since the Davis game, following the knockouts. Yuriorkis Gamboa And Eduardo Ramirez. Cruz (24-2-1, 17 KOs) sees Cabrera as another important step towards where he wants to be.
He insists he has no problems with motivation despite the much larger battles against the top lightweight athletes going on.
“I don’t overlook anyone,” he said. “I prepare for every war the same way because every victory is [important].”
Indeed, if he keeps raising his hand, super fights will come. Cruz wants a rematch with Davis first and foremost. But he also has names like Devin Haney, Shakur Stevenson and Vasiliy Lomachenko in his sights.
Those fights — or at least one or two of them — will give Cruz a chance to join the aforementioned 135-pounders as stars in the deep division, though he feels His performance against Davis should have led to that perception.
“I should definitely be mentioned in that group,” he said. “I faced the monster (Davis) when I was just an unknown. I don’t feel recognized for that. Regardless, I don’t care what people say or don’t say.
“The results speak for themselves. In the end, I will definitely be named among the best in the department.”
And perhaps the best from his own country.
