Tomorrow night from Bethlehem, Pennsylvania on FS1, Premier Boxing Champions presents a rematch of a fight from January when Alex Martin attempts to avenge a defeat he shouldn’t have on his record versus Miguel Cruz. Once beaten former welterweight prospect Jamal James returns against Samuel Figueroa in the co-feature.
When Alex Martin (13-1, 5 KOs) and Miguel Cruz (15-0, 11 KOs) first met it was January on the now defunct PBC on Spike line of shows, they served as the opener for the mismatch between Erislandy Lara and Yuri Foreman. Martin appeared to rather easily control the bout with his timing, counter punching, and speed from the outside. Spike TV commentator Jimmy Smith scored the bout 99-91 for him while Antonio Tarver and I scored it 98-92,.
One of the official judges agreed with Smith, scoring the bout 99-91, but the other two came back with pretty confusing 96-94 cards for Miguel Cruz. There were some close rounds, but to give six of the ten to the flatfooted Cruz just made little sense. I use this word as little as possible when discussing decisions, but their first fight was a robbery. Miguel Cruz was largely beat up over ten rounds. He did not have a case to win.
Presumably then the point of this fight is to correct the robbery, but I never like that thinking. Despite the official verdict, anyone who saw the first fight knows Alex Martin won. I saw nothing in the first fight that Cruz was likely able to do to improve given the poor style matchup, so why do it again? For PBC as a pseudo-promoter, correcting it makes even less sense. Sell Cruz as undefeated and let everyone know Martin was robbed in his one loss when marketing. As a boxing fan, I do not feel compelled to watch this fight again as it was decisive and not some great action fight.
The co-main event brings back PBC welterweight prospect Jamal James (20-1, 9 KOs) from his first loss at the hands of the surging Yordenis Ugas. While James was largely outclassed by the Cuban, Ugas really does seem to be coming into his own as a contender so it is difficult to hold the loss against him. James’s opponent will be the also once beaten Samuel Figueroa (11-1, 4 KOs). Figueroa’s loss actually came via split decision to the main event’s Miguel Cruz last May on a PBC on Bounce card.
The fights begin at 9 PM tomorrow night on FS1.
