Lightweight contender Isaac “Pitbull” Cruz easily destroyed Eduardo Ramirez in a second-round knockout victory in their WBC title eliminator on Sunday night at the Crypto Arena in Los Angeles.
Fighting in the co-feature of the Andy Ruiz Jr.-Luis Ortiz heavyweight eliminator, Cruz electrified the crowd with a brutal and dynamic performance.
Isaac “Pitbull” Cruz with a huge knockdown!
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The second round was all Cruz, who landed a powerful left hook that dropped Ramirez hard to his face midframe.
Ramirez (27-3-3, 12 KOs), 29, a southpaw from Mexico, was on his feet by referee Jack Reiss’ seven count, but he was in poor shape and it seemed like it was only a matter of time until Cruz finished. with the.
Cruz (24-2-1, 17 KOs), 24, attacked and forced his compatriot to the ropes, where he fired. Cruz landed a nasty left hook and right hand combination and then another left and right combination that dropped a dazed Ramirez on his backside in the corner and was stopped by Reiss at 2 minutes, 27 seconds.
According to CompuBox, Cruz landed 22 of 88 punches (25 percent) and Ramirez landed just 5 of 59 (9 percent).
Cruz won his second fight in a row by knockout (he also floored Yuriorkis Gamboa in five one-sided rounds in April) since a controversial decision loss as a late replacement challenging secondary lightweight champion Gervonta Davis in December 2021.
“We want the rematch with Gervonta Davis,” Cruz said. “That’s what these fans want. I promised the knockout tonight and we did it.”
Ramirez saw a five-fight winning streak come to a violent conclusion.