Isaac Cruz was stunned as he lost his world title to a career-best performance from Jose Valenzuela.
Cruz made a maiden defence of his WBA super-lightweight world title against Valenzuela, in front of heavyweight legend Mike Tyson at the BMO Stadium.
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And ‘Iron Mike’, who famously hailed him as the most similar in terms of fighting style, watched on as Cruz was shockingly beaten by the significant underdog.
His rival was given the nod as the judges’ scored the contest a split decision with two cards at 116-112 in his favour, while Cruz was given a controversial 115-113 card.
It ends the chances of Cruz rematching boxing superstar Gervonta Davis who famously outpointed him in 2021.
The ferocious 5ft 5ins Mexican’s style was certainly a fan-friendly one and it was a big statement from Tyson which he needed to live up too.
His devastating defeat began in true Tyson fashion at a lightning pace, as Cruz came out all guns blazing and set himself on the front foot by charging his rival down.
He was already swinging some dangerous looking shots with Valenzuela patiently stalking from the outside to try and tame the power-hitting start.
As the bell for the second round sounded, he once again teed off on his rival in the corner but Valenzuela was resilient and was doing well to land his own shots and manage the early aggression of ‘Pitbull’.
He continued to have success from the outside, but the crashing hooks from Cruz still seemed to be the most dangerous weapon despite his accuracy on the back foot.
There was no sign of Cruz’s relentless energy letting up as the fifth round played out, but his rival was clearly in the zone and was using his reach advantage to perfection.
As the midway point approached, the champion appeared to be briefly dazed by a left uppercut but he quickly shook it off and once again launched himself on the front foot.
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Valenzuela continued to land the more accurate punches in flurries from the back foot, including yet another crushing uppercut which briefly took the smaller fighter on to his toes from the mat.
Cruz looked to be struggling when trying to close the gap to ‘El Rayo’ but was continuing to throw and land some sharp punches on the way in as the eighth round concluded.
As the final two championship rounds came, Valenzuela looked to have neutralised Cruz and his corner shared that view suggesting he was minutes from becoming world champion.
But it wasn’t over for the defending king who pinned his rival back in the closing stages of the eleventh, and came out flying again in the final period.
Valenzuela was forced to be cautious but appeared to have done enough as the bell rang and signalled the arrival of the scorecards.
He was given the nod and could now look to unify the division in a mega-fight against Teofimo Lopez, who currently holds the WBO and Ring Magazine titles.
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