PBC managed to put on a broadcast network show that was the third most interesting card of the night. Why they waste these FOX shows with cards like this, I do not know. It wasn’t a bad watch by any means, but a show with that big of a potential audience deserves more name value than Josesito Lopez. Regardless, Lopez picked up a one sided win in the main event over Miguel Cruz.
I am getting to this one the next morning so I am going to approach it from a slightly different perspective than my normal recaps. You already know what happened, so let’s think more about what what happened means. In the main event, Josesito Lopez (36-7, 19 KOs) dominated would be prospect Miguel Cruz (17-1, 11 KOs) in what is being treated as a minor upset. I don’t see it that way. I watched Cruz be soundly outboxed by a much lesser fighter in Alex Martin a little over a year ago. He got a garbage decision to keep his unbeaten record, but that doesn’t change anything. If Alex Martin could control Miguel Cruz, certainly Josesito Lopez could.
I also don’t think this means a ton for Lopez in terms of improvement or in reflection of his ability to hang with top welterweights. It certainly means a lot in terms of getting the opportunity to make some more money in being knocked out by one, but he will put on the same performance against an elite welterweight like he always has. Miguel Cruz just isn’t that good. A rematch with Victor Ortiz would be saleable and potentially winnable for both men if PBC wanted to go in that direction though. Just don’t make it the main event on FOX please.
Other than some annoying MMA shenanigans on the floor in the middle rounds, Anthony Dirrell’s (32-1-1, 24 KOs) one sided win over Abraham Han (26-4-1, 16 KOs) was as predictable as they come. He dropped Han at the end of the first round and couldn’t again, but that didn’t stop him from doing basically anything he wanted in there. Han was game, but extremely overmatched. The 33 year old announced post-fight that he was looking to retire at the end of the year. That is a relief at this point because I am tired of waiting for his career to start. He hasn’t fought anyone who could threaten him in five fights and three years, not since Badou Jack in April of 2015. He says he wants to go out with a title fight, but he probably means he wants to go out by fighting Phil Lo Greco.
The best moment of the card came almost immediately in its opener. Contender and prospect met when Claudio Marrero (23-2, 17 KOs) and Jorge Lara (29-1-2, 21 KOs) entered the ring against each other. They weren’t in there together very long though. Both attacking aggressively, it was Marrero that landed big early. Lara went down hard and had all sorts of trouble getting back up. It took three or four tries of standing only to fall again to the canvas. The fight was called off and he still kept falling without legs. This was one beautiful finish. It should also put Marrero back in the conversation in PBC’s very deep featherweight stable.
