Rolando Romero vs Isaac Cruz Preview March 30th, 2024
Rolando Romero of Las Vegas, Nevada returns to the ring in his hometown this Saturday, March 30th when he takes on Isaac Cruz of Mexico City. The 12-rounder is for Romero’s WBA Junior Welterweight Title which he won in his last outing in May. He was behind on all three scorecards to Ismael Barroso at the time and was awarded a highly-controversial ninth-round TKO by referee Tony Weeks. Cruz last stepped into the ring in July when he edged Giovanni Cabrera by a 12-round split decision to hold onto his WBC Silver Lightweight title and win the vacant WBO Latino lightweight Belt. The fight can be seen live on pay-per-view including Triller.
Romero vs Cruz Betting Odds
Here are the betting odds from online sportsbook BetOnline.ag (full review here).
- Rolando Romero +220
- Isaac Cruz -280
My Pick
Romero is 28 years old and has just 66 rounds of experience under his belt since making his pro debut in 2016 following his amateur career after starting boxing at the age of 17. He climbs through the ropes with a mark of 15-1 with 13 Ko’s with his only defeat coming at the hands of Gervonta Davis in a shot at the WBA Lightweight Title when he was stopped in the sixth round in May, 2022. He possesses plenty of power in his punches with a current knockout ratio of 86.7 per cent and has gone the distance just twice as a pro.
He beat Jackson Marinez by unanimous decision in August 2020 for the WBA Interim Lightweight Title and the only other opponent he went the distance with was Javier Martinez, who went six rounds back in August, 2018 with Romero earning a unanimous decision. Romero has beaten some other good boxers along the way such as Anthony Yigit and Avery Sparrow and was doing well against Davis until he got caught. Romero stands 5-feet-8-inches tall with a 68-inch and will fighting at the 140 lb junior welterweight division for just the second time.
The 25-year-old Cruz made a name for himself on the world stage in December, 2021 when he dropped an exciting 12-round unanimous decision to WBA Lightweight Champion Gervonta Davis. Since then he’s bounced back with a fifth-round stoppage of Yuriorkis Gamboa for the vacant WBO Inter-Continental Lightweight Belt and stopped Eduardo Ramirez in the second round before his close split decision win over Giovanni Cabrera in his last contest. This brings Cruz’s current record to 25-2-1 with 17 Ko’s and he’s boxed 140 rounds since making his pro debut in 2015.
Cruz is known for having pretty good power in his fists as 68 per cent of his wins have been by stoppage. He isn’t really regarded as a one-punch KO artist though and has gone the distance in six of his last nine fights. Cruz measures 5-feet-4-inches tall with a 63-inch wingspan which means he gives up four inches in height and five inches in reach to Romero. Cruz is moving up in weight as this will be his first fight as a junior welterweight.
His his toughest opponents to date have been Davis as well as an aging Francisco Vargas and former world champ Diego Magdaleno, who he stopped in just 53 seconds in 2020. Cruz’s first pro defeat came at the hands of Luis Miguel Montano via an eight-round unanimous decision in February, 2016 while his lone draw was a six-round affair with Jose Capilla in 2017. Cruz has an aggressive non-stop punching style which makes him very dangerous as well as fan friendly.
Prediction…
Romero and Cruz both carry plenty of power and as Romero found out in his fights against Gervonta Davis and Ismael Barrosso, things can suddenly change with one punch. Romero looked good against Davis, but brutal against Baaroso as Davis didn’t throw much leather while Barroso did. Cruz has a big height and reach disadvantage here and is moving up in weight. He’ll need to work his way inside but as long as he lets his hands go and doesn’t try to outbox Romero he should have some success. He basically needs to follow Barroso’s blueprint. This could go either way as Romero may outbox Cruz or Cruz will try to bully him. I’m going with a Cruz win here.
I think Cruz has the style to give Romero a lot of problems.
Play: Cruz -280 @ BetOnline.ag
Check out my recent boxing betting picks to see my current form.
Isaac Cruz betting • Rolando Romero betting