Pitbull Cruz is unfazed as Roach vows to take the WBC Interim

WBC interim light welterweight champion Isaac ‘Pitbull’ Cruz and challenger Lamont Roach both successfully weighed in on Friday for Saturday’s main event on Amazon Prime Video PPV.

Roach in His Face

Lamont Roach (25-1-2, 10 KOs) invaded Cruz’s space during their decamping, which resulted in some shoving and some bumping, but nothing extreme. He let the crowd know he was going to capture Cruz’s interim WBC title by repeatedly moving around his waist while posing.

You could tell from the reaction of ‘Pitbull’ Cruz (28-3-1, 18 KOs) on stage that he didn’t care about Roach. This is understandable, because during the entire promotion. Lamont has been open about who he wants to face next, acting like the win over ‘Pitbull’ Cruz is already in the bag.

This is bizarre behavior because he has no wins on his resume that suggest he will defeat Isaac. The one impressive performance in Roach’s career against a notable fighter was his 12-round draw against Gervonta Davis. It wasn’t even a victory.

Official weights

• Isaac ‘Pitbull’ Cruz 138.6 vs. Lamont Roach Jr. 139.6
• Erislandy Lara 159.6 vs Johan Gonzalez 158.6
• O’Shaquie Foster 130 vs. Stephen Fulton Jr. 132
• Jesus Ramos Jr. 159.8 vs. Shane Mosley Jr. 159.6
• Frank Martin 139.4 vs. Rances Barthelemy 139.8

“I come with everything I have. So, he’s got to get better with everything he’s got,” Roach said at the weigh ingives his thoughts on his fight against ‘Pitbull’ Cruz. “We’ve got to let him worry about what we got here. Maybe he’ll adjust. Like I said before. I’ve got 10 days to win. He’s got one.

“If he dies” line

“What did Rocky say? ‘If he dies, he dies.’‘”

Roach’s quote from the character Ivan Drago from the movie Rocky 4 went a little overboard with the fake drama. Lamont is no puncher. He is more of a volume punch/boxer, with only 10 knockouts on his resume.

“What I made clear to him. What I’m coming to do is the same thing I did against Diego Magdaleno five years ago, and he knows what it is,” Cruz said of his intention to knock out Roach in the first round as he did against Magdaleno on October 31, 2020.