By Ronnie Nathanielsz
There have been agonizing calls for former two-division world champion Luisito Espinosa, one of the Philippines all-time greats to retire after he absorbed a battering at the hands of young Cristobal Cruz and was knocked out in the third round of a scheduled ten round main event at the Stockton Memorial Civic Auditorium Saturday morning Manila Time.
The 37 year old former world bantamweight and featherweight champion was decked by Cruz with a cracking left hook near the end of the first round and was "out on his feet" according to Andy Rivera who was at ringside to give Espinosa moral support. Andy Rivera is the son of Espinosa’ first manager, broadcaster Hermie Rivera who steered him to the world bantamweight crown and has consistently wanted his prized fighter to retire. Riverasadly explained that he "keeps fighting to feed his family" even as he is still trying to collect on his $150,000 purse for his title defense against Carlos Rios in Koronodal years ago.
Rivera's son was pained by the bad beating even as he conceded that the once proud two-time world champion who is certain to be enshrined in the Hall of Fame" in the future looked "a pitiful sight."
Espinosa's former trainer Dee Pooler in an overseas telephone conversation with Viva Sports/Manila Standard from the venue said "Louie should retire otherwise he'll get hurt. He said Espinosa "did not appear prepared and when that happens he could get hurt real bad." Pooler revealed that Espinosa who trained in Las Vegas was hurt by having to be seperated from his family who stayed with friends in California and he was "not focused, he just wasn't there." Pooler who grew very fond of Espinosa said "it broke my heart because I have never seen Louie destroyed."
Posts on the Manny Pacquiao website praised Espinosa for having given the country so much honor but fight fans begged him to retire to save himself for further dangerous punishment even as others appealed to the California State Athletic Commission not to give him a license to fight which, regrettably, would remove what appears to be his best form of earning to provide for his family while others cursed those responsible for not paying him the $150,000 purse for his title defense against Carlos Rios in Koronodal years ago.
In an overseas telephone conversation with Viva Sports/Manila Standard Rivera's brother Noel who once handled Espinosa's career in the US relayed the report of Andy. He said Espinosa "didn’t even know where his corner was" and that in the second round the once proud Filipino champion was "pummeled from pillar to post and was given two standing eight counts." At one point the referee had to save Espinosa from flying out of the ring.
In the fateful third round " a big left hook from Cruz sent Espinosa crashing to the canvas on his back" to be counted out cold. Rivera reported that he "lay on the canvas for a little while." Rivera said, "I feel really bad. Louie had really nothing and he looked old." The only gratifying thing was that Filipinos in the crowd surrounded Espinosa "and embraced him."
Espinosa dropped to 47-13 with 26 knockouts while Cruz improved to 30-7-1 with 19 knockouts. The fight card showcased on the ESPN Deportes telecast was promoted by James Grunsky. It was Espinosa's second straight TKO loss having taken a bad beating in a seventh round TKO to Carlos Navarri last July 9.
