Upper Marlboro, MD's Lamont Roach, Jr. and former world title contender Orlando "El Fenomeno" Cruz of San Juan, Puerto Rico battled to a 10-round split decision draw at the Coliseo Jose Miguel Agrelot in San Juan on Thursday evening. The bout was nationally televised by ESPN2 and was for the vacant WBO International Super Featherweight title.
Roach got off to a slower than usual start in the contest and that allowed Cruz to counter punch effectively. Roach did, however, seem to land more quality shots than Cruz in the bout.
Roach did step up his attack in the last three rounds. There was a key moment in the ninth round when Roach seemed to drop Cruz with a left hook. However, the referee, Luis Pabon, ruled that Cruz slipped and did not call the knockdown. If Roach had received credit for the knockdown, he would have won the bout on the scorecards.
One judge did score the bout for Roach, 97-93. Another judge saw the contest for Cruz, 96-94. The third judge saw the draw at 95-95. Roach remains undefeated at 16-0-1, six KO's while Cruz is now 25-6-2, 13 KO's.
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