Isaac ‘Pitbull’ Cruz vs. Jose ‘Rayo’ Valenzuela rematch is being labored on for the co-feature on the David Benavidez vs. David Morrell occasion on January twenty fifth in Las Vegas.
Fernando Sabatino stories on X that Jose Benavidez Sr, Benavidez’s dad, says the co-main may very well be the Cruz vs. Rayo rematch. They’re engaged on that.
That struggle would add a lot worth to the headliner between WBA ‘common’ mild heavyweight champion Morrell (11-0, 9 KOs) and WBC interim champ Benavidez (29-0, 24 KOs).
The boxing world is already very considering seeing the Benavidez-Morrell struggle, however including the Valenzuela-Cruz rematch to the cardboard makes it even higher.
‘Rayo’ Valenzuela (14-2, 9 KOs) dethroned Isaac ‘Pitbull’ Cruz (26-3-1, 18 KOs), beating him by a 12-round break up choice on August third in Los Angeles.
That was pure education by Rayo, who regarded like a duplicate of Vasily Lomachenko, using motion and energy photographs to dominate the hard-hitting Cruz. The 5’10” Valenzuela managed the a lot shorter 5’4″ Cruz together with his jab and did a superb job of getting out of the best way of his massive energy photographs.
Rayo-Cruz scores
– 116-112: Rayo
– 116-112: Rayo
– 115-113: Pitbull
It’s unclear what the PPV worth can be for the Benavidez-Morrell occasion, however it would possible be within the $70+ area. Benavidez’s solely two PPV occasions that he headlined throughout his profession had been in 2023:
– Caleb Plant
– Demetrius Andrade
Neither of these occasions reportedly introduced in massive PPV numbers, however these weren’t perfect opponents for Benavidez to struggle on PPV. Morrell is a unique story as a result of he’s unbeaten, has massive energy, and is seen as a future star of the game.
Some imagine that Morrell has punching energy on the extent of Artur Berterbiev. The one lacking factor from Morrell’s recreation is inside preventing and quantity punching.
Born in Cuba, the 26-year-old Morrell’s reputation has sky-rocketed throughout his quick five-year skilled profession, and he captured his first world title in solely his fifth struggle, beating Mario Abel Cazares by a first-round knockout to say the WBA ‘common’ tremendous middleweight belt on June 27, 2021.
