Promoter Eddie Hearn says he wants to match lightweight contender Andy Cruz against a top ten contender next when he returns to the ring in May or June following his lopsided ten-round unanimous decision win over Brayan Zamarripa tonight at the Caribe Royale in Orlando, Florida.
One name that Hearn would like to match against Cruz next is #3 WBO Angel Fierro (22-1-2, 17 KOs), who is coming off a 10 round split decision win over Zamarripa last September.
Hearn feels that it was a “complete mismatch” with the way the 2020 Olympic Cuban gold medalist Cruz (3-0, 1 KO) dominated Zamarripa (14-3, 5 KOs), and the scores reflected that. The judges scored it 109-99, 109-99 and 109-99.
“What we saw tonight was a complete mismatch with Andy Cruz just battering Zamarripa. That’s just the level that he’s at,” said Eddie Hearn to the media after Andy Cruz’s 10-round unanimous decision win over Brayam Zamarripa on Saturday night.
“May or June at the latest. I want to keep him nice and active now,” said Hearn about when he plans on bringing Andy Cruz back. “He did ten rounds tonight. It was a lot of work. He didn’t get hit a lot. We’ll speak to the team, and in May or June, he’ll be back.
“It has to be,” said Hearn when asked if it’ll be a top ten opponent for Cruz. “Angel Fierro, who is #3 with the WBO, who beat Zamarripa. That’s a great fight. You saw with Staffon that he comes to fight. Andy actually walked him down. That’s two back-to-back fights.
“He did it a little bit against Burgos, where he’s actually walking an opponent down. I really enjoyed what I heard from [trainer] Bozy [Ennis to Cruz]. ‘Walk him down. Let your hands go.’ I’m like, ‘Whoa.’ So, they’re getting him to fight in that style.
“Now, we got to face that kind of opposition. We got to face a real top ten guy next because he’s just going to breeze through all these guys,” Hearn continued about Andy Cruz. “When he fights a guy in the top ten, he’s going to breeze through that guy.
