Isaac ‘Pitbull’ Cruz vs. Jose ‘Rayo’ Valenzuela rematch is being worked on for the co-feature on the David Benavidez vs. David Morrell event on January 25th in Las Vegas.
Fernando Sabatino reports on X that Jose Benavidez Sr, Benavidez’s dad, says the co-main could be the Cruz vs. Rayo rematch. They’re working on that.
That fight would add much value to the headliner between WBA ‘regular’ light heavyweight champion Morrell (11-0, 9 KOs) and WBC interim champ Benavidez (29-0, 24 KOs).
The boxing world is already very interested in seeing the Benavidez-Morrell fight, but adding the Valenzuela-Cruz rematch to the card makes it even better.
‘Rayo’ Valenzuela (14-2, 9 KOs) dethroned Isaac ‘Pitbull’ Cruz (26-3-1, 18 KOs), beating him by a 12-round split decision on August 3rd in Los Angeles.
That was pure schooling by Rayo, who looked like a copy of Vasily Lomachenko, utilizing movement and power shots to dominate the hard-hitting Cruz. The 5’10” Valenzuela controlled the much shorter 5’4″ Cruz with his jab and did a good job of getting out of the way of his big power shots.
Rayo-Cruz scores
– 116-112: Rayo
– 116-112: Rayo
– 115-113: Pitbull
It’s unclear what the PPV price will be for the Benavidez-Morrell event, but it will likely be in the $70+ region. Benavidez’s only two PPV events that he headlined during his career were in 2023:
– Caleb Plant
– Demetrius Andrade
Neither of those events reportedly brought in big PPV numbers, but those weren’t ideal opponents for Benavidez to fight on PPV. Morrell is a different story because he’s unbeaten, has big power, and is seen as a future star of the sport.
Some believe that Morrell has punching power on the level of Artur Berterbiev. The only missing thing from Morrell’s game is inside fighting and volume punching.
Born in Cuba, the 26-year-old Morrell’s popularity has sky-rocketed during his short five-year professional career, and he captured his first world title in only his fifth fight, beating Mario Abel Cazares by a first-round knockout to claim the WBA ‘regular’ super middleweight belt on June 27, 2021.
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