Cruz stops Carrasquillo

Friday night before a near sellout crowd at the inaugural card at the Sands Casino in Bethlehem, PA , undefeated welterweight sensation Ronald Cruz (13-0, 10KO’s) made his hometown debut a successful one, scoring a sixth round stoppage of dangerous veteran Doel Carrasquillo (16-18-1, 14KO’s)of Reading PA in the ten round main event of the evening. The six bout undercard promoted by Peltz Boxing Promotions, featured a crossroads fight between a pair of lightweights as Eliud Torres 5-2-3, 2KO’s and Bryne Green (6-4-1, 3KO’s, which ended in a split decision draw.

It was a dangerous fight for the undefeated Cruz in his home town debut, as Doel Carrasquillo had went the distance with a who’s who of contenders such as Mike Arnaoutas, Steve Chambers, Ayi Bruce, Emmanuel Taylor and Ricardo Williams Jr. In Carrasquillo’s last bout he stopped previously unbeaten Denis “Mama’s Boy” Douglin in the third round and looked prime to make the best of it with an upset victory tonight.

Cruz also had recently stepped up in competition with a with a sixth round stoppage of former two time national golden gloves champion Jeremy Bryan and had since reeled off two more victories, setting the stage for the prime time showdown.

The bout started slowly as Cruz jabbed and picked his way into inside as Carrasquillo covered hoping to draw him into a gunfight in the opening two rounds. Cruz even began to taunt the dangerous slugger before trading with him to end the second round.

As each minute progressed in the fight, Cruz seemed more confident and in control, mixing in a wide array of combinations on the inside and then immediately stepping out of the pocket as Carrasquillo swung over his head with wild hooks.

The crowd was on their feet, cheering on the hometown Cruz as he remained in control in the third by constantly finding his way on the inside as Carrasquillo only returned with single shots. Many of Carrasquillo’s parries were avoided or bounced of the tight guard of the hometown hero, much to the delight of his fans.

Carrasquillo continued to desperately look for the telling shot in the fifth, but his swings were few and far between as he covered from the constant combinations on the inside from Cruz.

In the sixth Carrasquillo tried something different and fought as a southpaw but was very tentative. Cruz was wary, but still continued to hack away at the body. Carrasquillo pushed Cruz to the ropes in mid-round. Cruz stuck to his game-plan and banged a short hook to the rib cage and Carrasquillo winced in pain, before turning away and moving to the far ropes. Cruz tried to jump on him with a finishing combination, but Carrasquillo took a knee. Carrasquillo rose to his feet but almost immediately, told referee he felt his ribs were broken and could not continue, so the bout was waved off at the official time of 1:09 of the sixth round.
“My game plan was to use hand-speed and work the body using angles and movement, but once I got inside, I knew I was a better fighter and beat him at his own game, which was mine also,” said a jubilant Ronald Cruz afterward.

The future looks bright for Ronald Cruz, who moves his record to a perfect 13-0, 10KO’s.

In the six round lightweight co-feature of the evening, Allentown’s own Eliud Torrez seemed to work well enough with movement and countering punching to squeeze out a victory over Vineland New Jersey’s Bryne Green. The judges however saw it differently as Green’s effort in the fourth and final round along with his aggressiveness and single heavy shots allowed him to capture one scorecard 58-57 and even on a second, while the third judge saw it in favor of Torres for the split decision draw.

Eliud Torres slides to 5-3-3, 2KO’s, while Bryne Green moves to 6-4-1, 3KO’s.

Undefeated Philly super middleweight Rashad “Strictly Business” Brown (5-0, 2KO’s) continued his winning ways dropping Baltimore, Maryland’s Omar Sims (5-4-3, 3KO’s)once in the second round and then outworked him throughout to capture the one sided six round unanimous decision victory by scores of 60-53 across the board.

Allentown’s own heavyweight William Miranda avenged a previous draw on his record, outslugging Zeferino Albino of Philadelphia PA in capturing a four round unanimous victory, but it wasn’t easy as he had to overcome a big cut over his left eye that bled throughout the final two rounds.

Albino was tough in the opening round, using his movement while landing big shots on the outside. Miranda pushed the attack though and eventually wore down the Philadelphian to win it on all three judges scorecards which read as follows: 39-37, 39-37 and 40-36.

William Miranda ups his record to 3-3-1, while Zeferino Albino falls to 4-13-3, 2KO’s.

York PA junior middleweight Grayson “The baby faced assassin” Blake (3-0, 1KO) used his superior hand speed and athletic ability to overcome the longer reach of wily Philly veteran Anthony Abrams (1-7) and capture a four round unanimous decision victory by scores of 40-36 x 2 and 39-37 respectively.

In the opening bout of the evening, Reading PA’s Cesar Gonzalez and Vineland New Jerseys Joshua Arocho had a competitive four round featherweight contest.

Gonzalez was the aggressor in the early going and had Arocho on the retreat. Arocho made the round close by snapping off a four punch flurry in the closing seconds of the opening round that definitely got the attention of Gonzalez.

It was more of Gonzalez in the second, until a cut opened late which seemed to energize Arrocho. The cut continued to bleed throughout the contest, but Gonzalez was game and appeared to do enough over the final two rounds to capture a razor thin victory. The judges saw it differently as all three officials scored the bout 38-38 even, declaring the bout a draw.

Cesar Gonzalez moves to 0-0-2, while Joshua Arocho slides to 1-4-1, 1KO.

It was a classic battle of someone’s “0” must go in the walkout bout of the evening, featuring a pair of winless welterweights, as Bristol, PA’s Chris Plebani (0-2) and David Navarro of (0-3) went at it for a solid four rounds.

The fight was a wild scrap, but it was Plebani who brushed off five years of ring rust with wild flurries on the inside throughout to take the unanimous decision victory on all three judges’ scorecards. The scoring was as follows: 40-36, 39-37 and 39-38 respectively. The rounds were very close though, which immediately sparked a call for a rematch from Navarro’s corner who felt they had pulled out the decision.