Boxing News Boxing News
There are two good bills tonight south of the border with shows taking place in Veracruz and Tijuana.
At the Arena in Tijuana, IBF featherweight kingpin Cristobal Cruz, 39-11-1 (23), puts his title at risk against veteran Ricardo Castillo, 38-7 (25).
After an up and down career, Cruz has hit his stride over the past 18 months, winning the IBF and IBO crowns during a five bout win streak.
The 32 year old local man won the IBF trophy with a split decision against the very tough Orlando Salido a year ago and has since defended it in difficult defenses against Cyril Thomas and Jorge Solis.
Cruz’s opponent tonight, Mexicali based Castillo, currently holds the NABF and Mexican titles on the strength of three victories this year and has two failed world title bids at super bantam under his belt.
Cruz and Castillo have already faced each once, an eight rounder at super bantam in 2003 that Cruz won by unanimous decision.
This time, the stakes are obviously much higher and for Castillo to bring home the goods in the rematch, he’ll have to pull off the performance of his career as he has never previously won at world level.
The champion should be able to outwork Castillo but Cruz can’t afford any lapses in concentration against his solid opponent.
At the World Trade Center in Veracruz tonight, local hero Tomas Rojas, 31-11-1 (22), puts his Interim WBC super fly belt on the block against South Africa’s Evans Mbamba, 16-0 (8), in a battle of southpaws.
Over the last nine years, Rojas has come up short against such world class operators as Rosendo Alvarez, Jorge Arce, Cristian Mijares and Gerry Penalosa but hit paydirt in July with a ninth round TKO over Everardo Morales to win the Interim WBC strap.
Mbamba defended the WBC International crown twice before stopping Devid Lookmahanak in December to win a WBC eliminator.
Rojas has a lot riding on this bout as a loss would mean a high profile WBC/WBA unification bout with Vic Darchinyan this December would likely go down the drain.
