By Joe Harrison
This past Friday night at Cicero Stadium, located just outside Chicago, Illinois, Dominic Pesoli’s 8 Count Productions provided boxing fans with another phenomenal evening of boxing.
In the main event, Francisco Lorenzo (28-4, 14 KOs) defeated Cristobal Cruz (34-10-1, 22 KOs) by a twelve-round unanimous decision. With the victory, Lorenzo won the CABOFE (Caribbean Boxing Federation) super featherweight title.
The first time Lorenzo and Cruz met was at Cicero Stadium on December 1st of ’06, when Lorenzo scored a lopsided eight-round unanimous decision over Cruz. This time, Cruz appeared to be more focused and was determined to even the score with Lorenzo.
Lorenzo had a rough start, getting knocked down from a body shot in the first round, and was warned by referee Timothy Adams twice for low blows. Cruz continued to dictate the pace of the bout by keeping the pressure on Lorenzo and dodging his wild hooks. Even with Cruz in control, the exchanges were fierce as both men tried to gain the upper hand.
In the middle rounds, Lorenzo’s wild hooks began to connect more frequently as he staggered Cruz. The fight became much closer as both men were able to find their mark as the exchanges continued. Unfortunately for Cruz, many of Lorenzo’s punches were landing below the belt again.
Going into the later rounds, the exchanges never stopped and the action pressed on. Cruz was able to land the more effective blows, but Lorenzo pressed forward and seemed to gain the upper hand by the end of each round. On the final scorecards, William Lerch scored it 114-113 while Mike Fitzgerald and Gary Kruse both had 115-112, all in favor of Lorenzo.
In the co-main event, lightweights Carlos Vinan and Carlos Madrid battled to an eight-round majority draw. It was another action-packed experience as Vinan and Madrid continuously exchanged freely. While Vinan was able to move forward and keep Madrid backing up, Madrid was able to land a crisp left jab that would stop Vinan in his tracks. While Jerry Jakubco scored it 77-75 for Madrid, Crystal Wright and Emily Cain each scored 76-76.