Lamont Roach (25-1-3, 10 KOs) wound up empty-handed, fighting to a disappointing 12-round majority draw against WBC interim light welterweight champion Isaac ‘Pitbull’ Cruz (28-3-2, 18 KOs) on Saturday night at the Frost Bank Center in San Antonio, Texas.
A third-round knockdown scored by Cruz cost Roach a chance of winning. If not for that, Lamont would have won, and he’d be talking pound-for-pound. The scores were 115-113 for Cruz, 113-113, and 113-113.
‘Pitbull’ Cruz was penalized in round seven for a shot below the belt. He’d been warned for his low blows by the referee, but continued to do so. Even after the point deduction, Cruz’s shots were straying low at times.
If you thought you heard a lot of complaints from Roach after his last fight against Gervonta Davis, just wait until you get a load of what bellyaching he’s going to do about tonight’s fight. Roach fought well enough to deserve the victory. For the second time in a row, Lamont didn’t get the win in a close fight.
Tonight’s undercard results
O’Shaquie Foster (24-3, 12 KOs) took Stephen Fulton (24-2, 8 KOs) to school, outboxing and outpunching him to win a lopsided 12-round unanimous decision in their chief support fight. The judges’ scores were 117-111, 118-110, and 119-109.
WBA middleweight champion Erislandy Lara (32-3-3, 19 KOs) put in a pedestrian-level performance, defeating substitute Johan Gonzalez (36-5, 34 KOs) by a 12-round unanimous decision.
It looked at times like the 42-year-old Erislandy was intentionally carrying Gonzalez, as it was target practice for him all night. Instead of finishing off his prey, Lara allowed him to stick around until the end.
Along the way, Lara knocked Gonzalez down in rounds one and twelve with left hands. The judges’ scores were 118-108, 119-107, and 120-106.
Middleweight Jesus Ramos Jr. (24-1, 19 KOs) defeated Shane Mosley Jr. (22-5-1, 12 KOs) by a 12-round unanimous decision in the first fight on the main card. It was a game effort by Mosley Jr, as he was overmatched, trying to fend off the attacks of Ramos Jr. with jabs all night and not doing a good job.
Ramos Jr. hurt him a couple of times in the fight, but couldn’t finish him because he relied too much on his left hand. The scores were 116-112, 117-111, and 117-111.
Light welterweight Frank ‘The Ghost’ Martin (19-0, 13 KOs) destroyed 39-year-old Rances Barthelemy (30-4-1, 15 KOs), knocking him out in the fourth round in a two-knockdown performance.
Coming off a knockout loss to Gervonta Davis 18 months ago, Martin, 30, scored a pair of knockdowns in round four to get the knockout of Barthelemy in his first fight at 140. The official time of the stoppage was at 2:56 of round four.
Martin did a lot of turning of Barthelemy to keep him from landing. The movement may have seemed a smart move on Martin’s part, but it was a waste of time because he wasn’t landing any of his own shots.
When Martin finally stopped moving and let his hands go in the fourth, he immediately dropped the former two-division world champion Barthelemy to get the knockout.
It’s still too early to tell if ‘The Ghost’ Martin will amount to anything at 140. His opponent was way too old, weak, and slow to gauge how well Martin would perform against the sharks in the division.
When Martin fought at 135, he struggled with Artem Harutyunyan and was knocked out by Gervonta Davis. Those were the only good opponents Martin fought at lightweight, and he got exposed in those fights. Before that, he’d looked like pure gold. Coming events cast their shadows before.