Lamont Roach is set to be stripped of his WBA super featherweight title as soon as he steps into the ring against WBC interim light welterweight champion Isaac ‘Pitbull’ Cruz on Saturday.
Roach’s Belt Gone at Entry
WBA interim 130lb champion James ‘Jazza’ Dickens will be automatically promoted once Roach faces ‘Pitbull’ Cruz on Saturday.
Tsutsumi hides on December 27th
Dickens (36-5, 15 KOs) will defend the WBA Super Featherweight crown against #3 Hayato Tsutsumi (8-0, 5 KOs) this month on December 27th at the Mohammed Abdo Arena, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Jazza’s time as the WBA champion could be short, and he is likely to lose it immediately to former Japanese amateur talent Tsutsumi.
This is Turki Alalshikh’s Ring V: Night of the Samurai card on DAZN PPV. The price of the event is $59.99 for American and Canadian fans and £24.99 for the British public.
Turki’s Samurai card breakdown
Some fans have questioned whether this card is considered pay-per-view worthy, as the main event between Naoya Inoue and David Picasso is considered a mismatch, and the same goes for the co-feature, Junto Nakatani vs. Sebastian Hernandez Reyes.
You’d have to be a huge fan of Inoue and Junto to want to pay to see them destroy opposing opposition in non-competitive fights. Turki dropped the ball on this one and should have just pulled the trigger on matching Inoue against Nakatani instead of having some mismatches along with the Jazza vs. Tsutsumi fight. These are not competitive fights on paper.
Roach Chases Bigger Money
Roach (25-1-2, 10 KOs) opted to sacrifice his WBA 130-lb belt to head toward bigger paydays at 140 and 135, starting with his clash against ‘Pitbull’ Cruz (28-3-1, 18 KOs).
Staying at 130 was risky
This is a wise decision for Roach, as if he stayed at 130, he would defend against WBA mandatory Hayato Tsutsumi. It would have been a tough fight for Lamont to win, and there is a good chance he would have lost his belt.
Roach didn’t have much of a reign as the WBA 130-lb champion. After winning the belt via an unimpressive 12-round split decision against Hector Luis Garcia on November 25, 2023, he made one voluntary defense of the title against unknown Feargal McCrory in June 2024, then moved up to lightweight to challenge WBA champion Gervonta25 Davis in March.
Rabbit punch memory still stings
If it was Roach’s side, he made the right move by relinquishing his WBA 130lb title as he looked good enough in his fight against Hector Garcia to hold onto that belt against Tsutsumi. He probably should have lost to Hector, but got credit for a textbook quick takedown in the 12th round.
If the referee had made the right call, Roach would have lost the fight because Hector won the 12th round before being dropped with a punch to the back of the head. It was painfully obvious that it was a rush, but the referee for some reason couldn’t see it.
Last updated on 12/05/2025
