Isaac “Pitbull” Cruz and Nestor Bravo didn’t put on a boxing classic, but we got a definitive knockout finish, and quite a performance from referee Thomas Taylor, who had his hands full with both, but seemed to lose his patience most with Bravo.
Cruz (29-3-2, 19 KO) dropped Bravo (24-2, 17 KO) in the opening round, and the fight got ugly, filled with holding, throwing, low blows, and basically any type of foul you could imagine. It came from both sides, though Bravo probably did do more to earn Taylor’s scorn, and there was some real scorn on display.
“You’re close to getting disqualified. Stop this shit,” said referee Taylor, adding that it wasn’t “a debate” after he’d already taken a point from Bravo for holding in the second round.
Taylor brought the fighters to center ring to start the third round, called time, and said, “This is when this shit ends right here. Stop the bullshit, let’s get back to fighting. Enough of the dirty shit.”
It didn’t stop. Bravo was deducted another point in Round 4 for throwing Cruz to the canvas. Bravo was further warned repeatedly, and when Cruz scored a heavy knockdown in Round 6, it did seem that Taylor rushed the back end of his 10-count, with Bravo seeming like he wanted to get up, and Taylor maybe just having seen enough.
At one point during the fight, Taylor even warned Bravo that if he got disqualified, he wouldn’t get paid. That’s probably not the entire truth, but Bravo could have faced having his purse withheld until fines were paid.
It wasn’t the prettiest fight, to say the very least, but Cruz picked up a win, retained his interim WBC title at 140 lbs, and looks to move on to something bigger down the road.
A bout with the full WBC champion, whether that’s Dalton Smith or Alberto Puello, could come next. Smith and Puello fight on October 24. There had also been talk this year of Cruz fighting WBA champ Gary Antuanne Russell.
Cruz also called out Ryan Garcia, which probably shouldn’t be taken seriously, but also should be, because Pitbull does have a fan base.
