‘Pitbull’ Cruz Ice-Cold at Face-Off as Roach Predicts He’ll Take the Belt

WBC interim light welterweight champion Isaac ‘Pitbull’ Cruz and challenger Lamont Roach both weighed in successfully on Friday for Saturday’s headliner on Amazon Prime Video PPV.

Roach in His Face

Lamont Roach (25-1-2, 10 KOs) invaded Cruz’s space during their face-off, resulting in some push and some slight jostling, but nothing extreme. He let the crowd know that he’s going to capture Cruz’s interim WBC title by motioning around his waist repeatedly while posing.

You could tell from the reaction from ‘Pitbull’ Cruz (28-3-1, 18 KOs) on stage that he doesn’t care for Roach. It’s understandable, because during the entire promotion. Lamont has openly talked about who he wants to face next, acting as if the victory over ‘Pitbull’ Cruz is already in the bag.

It’s bizarre behavior, because he has no wins on his resume to suggest he’ll defeat Isaac. The one impressive performance in Roach’s career against a notable fighter was his 12-round draw against Gervonta Davis. That wasn’t even a win.

Official Weights

• Isaac ‘Pitbull’ Cruz 138.6 vs. Lamont Roach Jr. 139.6
• Erislandy Lara 159.6 vs. Johan Gonzalez 158.6
• O’Shaquie Foster 130 vs. Stephen Fulton Jr. 132
• Jesus Ramos Jr. 159.8 vs. Shane Mosley Jr. 159.6
• Frank Martin 139.4 vs. Rances Barthelemy 139.8

“I’m coming with everything I got. So, he’d better come with everything he’s got,” said Roach at the weigh-in, giving his thoughts on his fight against ‘Pitbull’ Cruz. “We got to make him worry about what we got over here. Maybe he’ll adjust. Like I said before. I’ve got 10 days to win. He’s got one.

“If He Dies” Line

“What did Rocky say? ‘If he dies, he dies.‘”

Roach’s quote from the character Ivan Drago from the film Rocky 4 was going a little overboard with the fake drama. Lamont isn’t a puncher. He’s more of a volume punch/boxer, with just 10 knockouts on his resume.

“What I made clear to him. What I come to do is the same thing I did five years ago against Diego Magdaleno, and he knows what that is,” said Cruz about his intentions of knocking out Roach in the first round as he did against Magdaleno on October 31, 2020.