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Andy Cruz
Cuban boxer and Olympic champion (born 1995) From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Andy Cruz Gómez (born 12 August 1995) is a Cuban professional boxer. He has won two gold medals at the Pan American Games, three gold medals at the AIBA World Championships,[2] and a gold medal at the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympics.[3]
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Amateur career
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Cruz has won multiple gold medals as an amateur including an Olympic medal,[3] two Pan American Games medals,[4][5] and three medals at the AIBA World Championships.[6][7][8] Cruz accumulated over 149 amateur bouts and amassed an amateur record of 140–9 (10 KOs).[9][10]
Amateur losses
Cruz accumulated only 9 defeats in his 149 amateur bouts.[11]
- Frank Zaldivar at the 2011 Cuban Schools Championships (22–13)[12]
- Bin Lu at the 2012 AIBA World Youth Championships (16–13)[13]
- Yunier Echevarria at the 2012 Cuban National Championships (DQ)[14]
- Dulat Bekbauov at the 2013 Pavlyukov Youth Memorial (8–8)[15]
- Robeisy Ramírez at the 2014 Cuban National Championships[16]
- Dzmitry Asanau at the 2015 AIBA World Championships (3–0)[17]
- Kevin Hayler Brown at the 2015 Cuban National Championships[18]
- Sofiane Oumiha at the France vs. Cuba Internationals[19]
- Delano James at the World Port Boxing[20]
Highlights
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Professional career
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Early career
Andy Cruz turned professional at the age of 27, signing a deal with Matchroom Boxing.[21][22] Cruz expressed that in his career as a professional, he will fight no easy opponents and aims to face people who will give him a challenge.[23][24] On July 15, 2023, Cruz made his professional boxing debut against former two-time world championship challenger Juan Carlos Burgos (35–7–3, 21 KOs) in a 10-round bout at the Masonic Temple in Detroit, Michigan.[25] Cruz won his first minor title in his debut fight by unanimous decision,[26][27] with the judges scoring the bout 100–90, 100–90, and 98–92.[28][29][30]
Cruz was announced to be defending his IBF International lightweight title against Hector Tanajara Jr. (21–1–1, 6 KOs) on December 9, 2023, in a 10-round bout as an undercard fight for Devin Haney vs. Regis Prograis.[31][32] Shortly after the bout was scheduled, Tanajara Jr. withdrew due to an injury.[33] Later, it was announced that former IBO world lightweight champion Jovanni Straffon (26–5–1, 19 KOs) would fight as a replacement if his visa was approved.[34] After Straffon acquired his visa, the fight was confirmed to continue at the Chase Center in San Francisco, California.[35][36] Cruz retained his IBF International lightweight title and won the vacant WBA Continental Latin-American lightweight title by knockout after the referee stopped the contest in round three, giving Cruz his first stoppage victory as a professional.[37][38] According to CompuBox, Cruz outclassed Straffon by landing 88 out of his 146 total punches thrown (60.3%), compared to Straffon's 13 out of 76 punches thrown (17.1%).[39]
In December 2023, Cruz filed a lawsuit against New Champions Promotions for breach of contract and violation of the Ali Act; however, his main promoter, Matchroom Boxing, was mentioned but was not accused of any wrongdoing.[40] Amidst his lawsuit, Cruz was announced to be fighting Brayan Zamarripa (14–2, 5 KOs) for his third professional fight less than twenty-four hours later.[41] The ten-round contest took place as an undercard bout for the main event between Edgar Berlanga and Padraig McCrory on February 24, 2024, at the Caribe Royale in Orlando, Florida.[42] Cruz defended his titles against Zamarripa by unanimous decision, as the judges all scored the fight 100–90 in favour of Cruz.[43][44] Cruz's promoter, Eddie Hearn, stated during an interview that he is prepared to make a massive offer for Keyshawn Davis as the next opponent for Cruz, or potentially Angel Fierro, if an agreement cannot be reached.[45]
It was announced that Cruz was to be defending his IBF International lightweight title against Antonio Moran (30–6–1, 21 KOs) on the undercard for the title fight between Terence Crawford and Israil Madrimov at BMO Stadium in Los Angeles, California.[46][47] Cruz defended his titles by knockout after the referee stopped the contest in round seven after Moran lost control of his footing after a sharp right hand.[48][49][50] According to CompuBox, Cruz landed 40% of his total punches and landed 45% of his power punches.[51][52] A few weeks after the fight, Cruz added 2022 BWAA manager of the year winner Peter Kahn to his team in a co-managerial role.[53]
Cruz was scheduled to defend his IBF International lightweight title against Omar Salcido (20–1, 14 KOs) at the Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas in Paradise, Nevada on January 25, 2025.[54][55] During the press conference, his promoter, Eddie Hearn, stated that Cruz could use "a couple" more fights before heading for a world title bout.[56] Cruz won by unanimous decision, with the two judges scoring the contest 98–92 and the other judge 99–91 to defend his IBF International lightweight title for the fourth consecutive time.[57][58] After the fight, Cruz rose to second in the IBF lightweight rankings and is in line for a title eliminator rumoured to be against the sixth ranked, Hironori Mishiro.[59][60][61]
IBF lightweight title eliminator
Cruz vs. Mishiro
Cruz was scheduled to face Hironori Mishiro (17–1, 6 KOs) in an IBF lightweight title eliminator on June 14, 2025, at Madison Square Garden in New York.[62][63] It was confirmed that this would be Cruz's first time fighting a twelve-round bout in his career.[64] After Vasiliy Lomachenko retired, the interim champion Raymond Muratalla was upgraded to the new IBF lightweight champion, thus changing the opponent for the world champion to whoever wins inside the eliminator.[65] Cruz won the eliminator by fifth-round technical knockout.[66][67] Prior to the stoppage, Mishiro was knocked down twice in the third round.[68]
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Professional boxing record
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References
External links
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