Photo Credit: Ed Mulholland/Matchroom.
Former Olympic champion Andy Cruz couldn’t get a knockout in his third professional outing, but he left opponent Brayan Zamarripa bloodied, bruised and beaten at the end of 10 lightweight rounds at Caribe Royale in Orlando, Florida on Saturday night.
Cruz, who defeated Keyshawn Davis in the final to take gold at the Tokyo games in 2021, was not just bigger, stronger, and faster than Zamarripa (14-3, 5 KOs), he also showed better and more varied punch selection throughout, never giving the Mexican an opportunity to get into the contest. He also showed footwork far superior to that of the typical three-fight pro, testament to his 149-bout amateur experience, which included three world championships.
It is too early to say if Cruz (3-0, 1 KO) will add a professional world championship to his resume, and his inability to put away the game Zamarripa showed that there are, understandably, still wrinkles he can add to his game, but his application and natural talent were evident throughout.
After a first round in which he took the measure of his man behind a snapping jab, Cruz showed the first hint of his potential in the second when a sneaky half step to the right gave him room to launch a punishing lead right hand that had the Mexican hanging on for dear life.
The Cuban-born Cruz, who has been training in Philadelphia alongside Jaron “Boots” Ennis, spent the first half of the bout patiently softening up Zamarripa but stepped up the pressure in rounds six and seven, sitting on his punches and driving Zamarripa backward with powerful blows from either hand. With blood cascasing from his nose and both eyes marked up, Zamarripa looked on the verge of folding, but he remained in the contest and sought to return fire as best he could in the eighth round.
The difficulties he faced in making a dent on Cruz were exemplified by the final power punch numbers. Cruz landed more of those punches (142) than Zamarripa threw (133) and his connect percentage of 46 was more than twice that of Zamarripa’s 20 percent.
Still, he was able to hold on until the end, although all three judges justly saw it as a 100-90 whitewash for the Cuban, whose future appears bright.