Roach Injury Claim After Cruz Draw – Did It Even Matter?

Sounding uncertain and defensive, Lamont Roach showed his injured left hand and said: “Imagine if I had both my hands” in his fight against Isaac ‘Pitbull’ Cruz last Saturday night.

Pointing his injured hand to the competition made it sound like Roach was using it as an excuse for why he couldn’t win. In other words, he was rationalization for his failure to achieve the victory. He mentioned that the injury occurred in the fifth round.

Has injury changed anything?

Lamont wasn’t fighting well before the injury, so it didn’t matter to the fans that he told them he was hurt in the fifth. They saw Roach being dominated by Cruz before the injury. He looked overmatched before he got hurt, and never took control. it was Pitbull who finished strong in 11th and 12th.

Roach (25-1-3, 10 KOs) was lucky to get a 12-round majority draw coming out of his headline bout against WBC Interim Light Welterweight Champion ‘Pitbull’ Cruz (28-3-2, 18 KOs) at the Frost Bank Center in San Antonio, Texas.

Point deduction Saved Roach

Lamont was saved by the referee who deducted a point from Cruz for a low blow in the seventh round. If not for that, Roach would have lost the fight. The problem with the penalty is that the ref didn’t warn Cruz beforehand.

“You’re talking about a participation trophy… you all want to see my bank account (check balance beforehand then)? Lol,” Lamont Roach continued X today.

Roach’s pay doesn’t erase the lackluster performance from him. It doesn’t work to confirm his worth by pointing out that he was paid a lot of money. Fans saw a fighter who couldn’t separate himself from a guy who beat him a year ago at the hands of Jose ‘Rayo’ Valenzuela.

All the talk Roach gave about being ranked pound-for-pound, winning world titles and wanting to fight the big names, he painted a false picture of himself that didn’t match his performance.

Hospital bed video drops

“Imagine if I had both my hands. Stop the noise,” said Lamont Roach in a video he posted, showing him posing in a hospital bed with a bandaged left hand after his grueling fight against Isaac ‘Pitbull’ Cruz last Saturday night.

Lying in a hospital bed, Roach appeared to have more than just a hand problem. He was all beat up, his speech sounded like he had a mouth full of broken glass, and a beat up look. Cruz really outworked him. Roach’s condition was not that of an elite level fighter.

“We have to start a movement. They took it out on me in boxing or something,” said Roach, sounding like a person in denial, who doesn’t like the fans’ judgment of his actions. “I’ll be right back. Do you hear me?”