Andy Cruz and Juan Carlos Burgos confronted one another and confronted one another on a podium arrange in a lodge ballroom in downtown Detroit, doing what boxers normally do once they face one another.
The 2 lightweights, scheduled to battle on Saturday evening, scanned one another for indicators of doubt or dehydration, proof {that a} fighter would have drained himself to fulfill the 135-pound weight restrict.
Burgos, a 35-year-old contender from Mexico, seemed blankly at Cruz, a 27-year-old Cuban who received gold on the 2021 Tokyo Olympics. Cruz, who left Cuba final yr, smiled weakly and gave Burgos a slight nod. The staring contest ended with a handshake.
For a seasoned professional like Burgos, it is a acquainted ritual to observe and choose an opponent throughout a pre-fight press convention. However the routine is model new for Cruz, the athlete broadly considered the very best boxer in a era that emerged from Cuba’s storied novice program. Cruz is a three-time World Newbie Champion, and the archive database BoxRec offers him 140 novice wins (and 9 losses).
Leaving Cuba made him the preferred free agent within the sport. In Might, he signed a three-year contract with Matchroom Boxing. His battle on Saturday, on the undercard of a world title battle between Alycia Baumgardner and Christina Linardatou, is boxing aficionados’ most eagerly awaited professional debut in years.
Cruz’s file as an novice highlights his expertise and talent, however doesn’t assure skilled success. Professional boxing not solely places a premium on punching energy, but additionally expects opponents to tackle a heavy promotional burden. Producing publicity with staredowns and different performances is now a part of Cruz’s job. It is one other transition to navigate between the game of novice boxing and the enterprise {of professional} prizefighting.
“Images, movies, it is a fully new course of for me, however I am a really quick learner,” Cruz stated in an interview. “I haven’t got an issue. I actually just like the cameras.”
For Matchroom, the signing of Cruz was a victory. The cope with Cruz ensures the fighter seven figures over three years, a rookie deal that promoters say suits his resume.
However Cruz additionally presents a singular problem, says Matchroom Sport president Eddie Hearn.
The boxer turns 28 subsequent month and would not essentially profit from beating the overmatched opponents that usually populate star fighters’ early profession information. If boxing had been baseball, Cruz could possibly be Yulieski Gurriel – a Cuban celebrity who arrived in the US as a totally fashioned professional. Gurriel performed simply 15 minor league video games in 2016 earlier than the Astros promoted him to the majors. He was 32.
Hearn says Cruz is already outfitted to tackle elite lightweights like Devin Haney, the undisputed champion, and Gervonta Davis, the favored energy puncher. However he additionally realizes that following a fighter shortly can result in a useless finish.
“The sensible factor is I wish to put him in these fights when he is actually prepared. We’ve to get the steadiness proper,” Hearn stated.
There are various cautionary tales.
Cuba’s Robeisy Ramirez received Olympic gold in 2012 and 2016, however misplaced his professional debut in 2019. Ramirez, who’s now the World Boxing Group featherweight champion, blames that loss on his failure to adapt from novice to professional boxing .
In 2014 Vasiliy Lomachenko, Olympic champion in 2008 and 2012, fought for an expert world title in his second skilled match. His opponent, a rugged veteran named Orlando Salido, used benefits in measurement (he weighed greater than two kilos over the featherweight restrict) and expertise to tear up the smaller Lomachenko and win a 12-round resolution.
Cruz’s debut in opposition to Burgos is the co-main occasion, under the featured battle between Baumgardner and Linardatou for a number of ladies’s tremendous featherweight belts. Cruz and Burgos will battle for the Worldwide Boxing Federation’s “Worldwide” males’s title, one step under a world championship, just like two MLB groups within the wild card spherical of the playoffs.
Saturday’s battle marks the primary time the IBF has sanctioned a title battle involving a fighter on his professional debut, an indication that regulators already think about Cruz a veteran. However to Burgos, Cruz is a rookie till he proves in any other case.
“If Andy desires to indicate Cruz that what they stated about him is true, he has to come back out and battle,” stated Burgos, who’s 35-7-3. “They are saying boxing will get hit and does not get hit, however folks wish to see motion. They wish to see exchanges of punches.
For his half, Cruz is conscious that he’s combating Burgos in addition to the notion amongst boxing followers that Cuban boxers are sensible technicians and intelligent techniques, however boring to observe. Cruz says he already understands that the place novice boxing rewards winners, professional boxing awards winners additionally entertain.
“He’s going to come back out and apply his expertise; I am going out and exhibiting that I am able to battle with the very best within the division,” stated Cruz. “The aim is to win and present properly. To shine and provides the viewers a present.”
After acquiring a visa and signing with Matchroom, Cruz moved to Northeast Philadelphia to be taught skilled boxing beneath the coach Derek Ennis. The coach’s job wasn’t to reprogram Cruz, however to show him to punch with authority, to face his floor, and to organize him for a brand new crop of opponents, who, like Burgos, favor to fumble at shut vary reasonably than distance .
“Put all of your photographs collectively and be ready for the person to come back again. That is the place protection is available in,” Ennis stated.
Burgos’ file consists of unanimous resolution losses to Haney and to Keyshawn Davis, an novice Cruz rival who’s at the moment a fast-emerging professional prospect. So Saturday’s consequence will assist decide how Cruz compares to his elite friends. Shifting ahead from there requires balancing the associated, however not completely aligned, pursuits of Cruz and his group.
Ennis desires to develop the boxer’s abilities. Cruz desires to dwell as much as the mythology that has sprung up round him. Hearn desires to take advantage of worthwhile fights potential.
“The coach and supervisor make the selections. We’ve to persuade them of the technique,” Hearn stated. “I’ve to offer them the fact and the information of the business world.”
Now their enterprise is getting into a greater part.
“It will likely be tough, however I’ve ready for it. For this second. I’m an individual who performs properly beneath strain and I’ll present that on Saturday,” stated Cruz.
