Errol Spence is 'The Truth' in Vegas; Wade comes through tough Brinson

By Peter Wells:

Errol Spence (right) lands his foolproof punch of the fight on Cruz (left)

In the main event of Friday night’s ShoBox card, Errol Spence Jr continued his impressive switch from a successful amateur career to the pro’s as he dismantled experience world level fighter Ronald Cruz in his 13^th fight.


Spence won every round on the way to a 10 round points victory in Las Vegas.

Spence displayed a good variety from his southpaw stance but in truth needed little more than the solid left hand that kept Cruz on the back foot all fight. Cruz was gallant throughout but offered little to test the rising boxing star as he suffered damage to both eyes while taking a pounding that gradually got more one-sided as the fight wore on.

The first minute saw nothing more than a few parried jabs from both fighters before Spence drove in two left crosses, both blocked by the high guard of Cruz. Ronald Cruz lunged for a right downstairs but came up short. Spence found his way through with a right, left to the body, another two lefts landed to the body of Cruz before Spence landed twice upstairs with long left hands to the side of Cruz’s face.

Both pawed with their jabs again in the 2^nd, Cruz looking to turn his jab into a left hook. A left to the body was followed up by a smart right to the head from Spence before the two once again tangled up. A left uppercut swept through Cruz’s guard before Spence tapped Cruz with three successive jabs.

Spence unloaded with a three punch combination but Cruz managed to cover up well. A right hand over the top grazed the cheek of Spence. A hard right landed to the temple of Cruz as Spence looked to up the intensity as he pounded away at a Cruz that looked content behind a high guard that was beginning to get breached.

Cruz slightly more aggressive drove a right hand through the guard of Spence who in turn found Cruz’s chin with a left uppercut. Having never been previously stopped it would take something special from Spence even though he was dominating, he was not hurting Cruz with any of his variety of shots. Cruz coming forward went downstairs with a right hand and was then tagged on the chin by a looping left.

Swivelling to the right Spence slammed home another three punch salvo. Holding onto the back of Spence’s head Cruz landed two right uppercuts in close before Spence forced Cruz back to the ropes where he went to work. Spence popped another left straight down the pipe as Cruz failed to react. A solid double jab was followed by a swooping left from Spence.

Cruz stuck in cruise control took another four punch combination before Spence landed a straight left for good measure. Spence’s movement also added to Cruz’s frustrations as he swung wildly with a left hook. Spence caught Cruz off balance with a right hook as he stumbled forward.

Cruz found his way through with a more urgent right hand to open the 7^th before they held on, arms clinched as they moved across the ring. A left uppercut landed on the eyebrow of Cruz. A sneaky left hand connected from Cruz prior to Spence digging into the body.

Cuts over both eyes didn’t help matters for Cruz who continued to take punishment from Spence who was in full control.

Cruz’s early aggression in the 8^th was once again taken away from him as Spence landed his best punch of the fight as a left hook clubbed into his right cheek. Looking for an impressive stoppage Spence poured forward landing more hurtful punches on the chin of a brave Cruz.

Back to the ropes Cruz continued to take punishment in the final two rounds from a rampant Errol Spence. Punches that weren’t landing for Spence were hitting the gloves of Cruz, rather than hitting thin air. A solid left cross slashed across the chin of Cruz to end the 9^th. The Puerto Rican born fighter continued to show what a solid chin he possessed if nothing else as Spence managed to find the target with multiple more left hands.

Cruz was extremely brave but Spence was sensational and that quality is what saw him take a shutout points victory 100-90 – on all three scorecards - as he moves to 13-0(10) while Cruz drops to 20-4(15).

 

In the co-feature bout, Dominic Wade continued his unbeaten run with an entertaining victory over Nick Brinson. Both fighters were wobbled in a fun contest, where Wade’s bright start led to him tiring in the later stages as Brinson pushed hard to turn the tide. Wade once again displayed a solid jab that won him any close rounds whereas Brinson worked exclusively in spurts that only really came into effect later in the contest.

Both fighters met in the centre of the ring but soon enough Wade was forcing Brinson back. Behind a hard jab Wade backed Brinson up with a straight right hand to the body and the head.

A left hook almost landed for Brinson before Wade stuck out a solid jab, pushing Brinson towards the rope with a one-two. Wade’s jab was a potent weapon for the undefeated fighter, Brinson looking to use his speed to quickly fire in the right off of a decoy jab. A right hand clipped Wade as he looked to fire in another jab or a long left hook. 

A solid left hook staggered Wade to open the 3^rd round, Wade held as they got involved in a neutral corner. Wade’s quick recovery saw him regain control of the fight, snapping a right hand that didn’t land clean as Brinson dipped down along the ropes. Brinson began to look for more long hooks which all were wild and wide of the target. In a clinch near the ropes Brinson pounded away with his free right hand to the body of Wade. Dominic Wade ended the round on top as he caught Brinson with a hard left hook followed by several damaging one-twos down the pipe. Brinson fought fire-with-fire as he launched a left of his own that momentarily stunned Wade at the bell.


Wade went downstairs with a right before firing in three solid jabs leading into another two jabs which caught Brinson on the side of his head. Brinson fired away but Wade had his guard up in position to repel that attack. Brinson began to target the body, two left hooks and a right were notable punches he landed in the final minute of the round.

Wade (left) lands a grazing blow on Brinson (right)



The two exchanged again in the 5^th; wide swings from Brinson were countered by the straighter shots of Wade. It was now Wade thoroughly on the back foot, Brinson again taking it to him on the ropes. Brinson pounded the body of Wade in an off round for Wade in the early going. The last 30 seconds saw Wade stick the jab in the face of Brinson who missed wildly with his own shots.

Brinson was able to find a way through with a straight right cross. A left hook to the head was followed by the same shot to the body from Brinson before he was tagged by a right hand. A right hand landed for Brinson, Wade walking his opponent down with more hard jabs. Wade clubbed Brinson with three punches down the middle before Brinson returned fire to the body.

Brinson caught Wade with a counter right over an unusually lazy jab, Wade slammed Brinson with a right of his own. A jab from Wade was well blocked by Brinson but Wade then found his way through with a right uppercut before landing several bombs while Brinson leaned on the ropes. Another right uppercut connected with Brinson’s chin.

Wild shots came in from Brinson, but Wade was not working nearly enough as Brinson was able to find his way inside too easily, even though Wade tucked up well. While taking the round, Brinson wasn’t able to take full advantage of Wade’s inactivity as his attacks proved too crude.

The 9^th carried a similar pattern to the 8^th as the pace dropped, especially from Wade. A snapping left hand caught a weary looking Wade, a right hand then landed from Brinson as Wade slid off the ropes.

A wild left landed high on the temple of Wade while the rest of Brinson’s combination was off target. A solid one-two caught Brinson as he piled forward looking to turn the tide at the 11^th hour. The two exchanged before Brinson caught Wade with a snapshot of a right hand as Wade left himself open.

I had the contest 97-94 to Wade while the judges saw it similarly at 96-94 and 97-93 (twice) to Dominic Wade who improved to 16-0(11) while Brinson dropped to 16-2-2(6).