By Jake Donovan
Junior welterweight prospect Omar Figueroa remained unbeaten after scoring a lopsided decision win over game but overmatched Eric Cruz on Friday evening at the State Farm Arena in Hidalgo, Texas.
Scores were 78-74 (twice) and 79-73 in their eight-round main event battle.
The bout never really changed gears, save for a late round surge by Figueroa, whose Weslaco hometown approximately 30 minutes away easily left him as the crowd favorite.
Cruz, a lead-footed power puncher from Puerto Rico, made things easy by standing right in front of his opponent, getting outboxed early and playing the role of heavy bag later in the fight.
The early rounds were all Figueroa, though appreciating the action required quite a bit of patience. At no point was the fight unwatchable, but much of it was like watching the same round over and over. Figueroa boxed, moved and flurried, while Cruz hoped to land a home run to upset the odds.
Things took a dramatic and exciting turn in the seventh round, when Figueroa figured that he wanted to give the hometown crowd an ending to remember.
The change in tactics left Cruz in serious trouble, although it also provided him the opportunity to attempt to play the spoiler role.
The rally didn’t come until after a break in the action when Figueroa was resting up after an unintentional foul. Once action resumed, the undefeated Texan unloaded with both barrels. Cruz found himself battered, on the ropes and under siege as Figueroa clearly had knockout on his mind.
It nearly happened for him, but Cruz was able to weather the storm well enough to briefly turn things around. A right hand crashed down on Figueroa’s chin while fighting out of the southpaw stance, bringing about a collective gasp from the partisan crowd although the threat of an upset didn’t travel much further than that singular moment.
Figueroa regained control before rounds end and poured it on in the eighth and final round. Fatigue eventually set in, as he appeared to punch himself out and ultimately settled for a well-earned points win over a game but tailor-made foe.
The win advances Figueroa’s record to 12-0 (9KO). The showing proved much better than his last attempt at a homecoming, barely escaping with a split decision draw over Arturo Quintero in their Telefutura-televised bout last November.
Cruz is still in search of his first win to come by any other way than knockout. The Boricua bomber snaps a four-fight win streak in falling to 11-7-3 (11KO).
In the televised co-feature, undefeated featherweight prospect Gary Russell Jr. looked sharp in scoring a fourth-round stoppage of Antonio Meza.
Russell Jr. was a little slow coming out of the gate, as Meza was surprisingly beating him to the punch in the very early stages of the fight. Even the slightest hint of an upset lingered only until about midway through the opening round, when Russell Jr. began to close the gap thanks to a purposeful jab that controlled the tempo for much of the evening.
Once Russell Jr. was able to establish distance and pace, the fight was virtually over. Meza never stopped pressing forward, but the tactic only played into his opponent’s hands.
Russell Jr. scored a knockdown in the third round and two more in the fourth, the latter prompting the referee to step in and wave off the contest while Meza was still one knee.
The official time was 2:42 of the fourth round.
With the win, Russell Jr. advances to 16-0 (10KO). Meza falls on hard times as he stumbles to 24-10-1 (16KO). The loss was his sixth straight, having won just once in his past eight contests.
A hard luck amateur standout who missed the 2008 Olympics after passing out at the weigh-in prior to his opening round bout in Beijing, Russell Jr. scores his first knockout since last September, having seen his last three contests go to the scorecards. The achievement comes two weeks after his 23rd birthday, as he continues to improve in his third year as a pro.
With plenty of time to fill in on the telecast, teenaged newcomer Oscar Tovar made his way in front of the cameras. The 19-year old Alton (TX) product didn’t stick around very long, scoring a knockout over hapless Roberto Perez just 0:50 into the opening round.
A series of punches had the winless Perez (now 0-9) in serious trouble, before an overhand right by Tovar (2-0, 1KO) finished him off for good.
Junior welterweight newcomer Miguel Angel Hernandez (1-1) of Chihuahua, Mexico was surprisngly outboxed by debuting Juan Reyna (1-0) over four rounds in their televised swing bout. Scores were 39-37 (twice) for Reyna, with Hernandez winning by the same 39-37 score on the dissenting card
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The show was presented by Golden Boy Promotions and Cavazos Boxing Promotions.
Jake Donovan is the Managing Editor of Boxingscene.com. Follow Jake on Twitter at twitter.com/JakeNDaBox or submit qouestions/comments to JakeNDaBox@gmail.com.
