Jose “Rayo” Valenzuela offered one of the best fights last Saturday at the Riyadh Season and dominated Isaac Cruz to dethrone him for the World Boxing Association (WBA) super lightweight belt at the BMO Stadium in Los Angeles, California.
Although he was not the favorite for this bout, Valenzuela showed an impeccable fight plan and used all his resources to win by split decision on cards of 116-112, 113-115 and 116-113 in the co-featured fight of the evening hosted by Riyadh Season.
Valenzuela used the distance very well and annulled the attack of “Pitbull” in very important passages of the fight, in addition to carrying out the counterattack with great intelligence and precision, which helped him to score points and take advantage on the scorecards.
He faced an opponent who was aggressive and aggressive, so he kept walking the ring and throwing a good amount of punches to counteract that style.
The southpaw improved his record to 14 wins, 2 losses and 9 knockouts, while Cruz now has 26 wins, 3 losses, 1 draw and 18 knockouts.