@ShowtimeBoxing on Twitter

Not too many boxers can survive 12 rounds with Gervonta Davis, but Isaac Cruz survived and impressed the boxing world on Dec. 5, 2021. He is ready for a standout year in 2022 as a lightweight.

Although Cruz came up short to Davis, he managed to avoid any substantial damage and he was a threat for 36 minutes. He won some rounds against Davis and made it hard for Davis to overwhelm him with power. Most of Davis’ opponents are vanquished within 10 rounds but Cruz kept moving forward.

When Davis hit Cruz with a flurry of punches, he responded with an attack of his own. That was uncommon for an opponent of Davis to retaliate with significant strikes.

Davis outboxed Cruz in Los Angeles and did more than enough to secure a unanimous decision victory. The judges ruled in favor of Davis, but the public gave Cruz all of the glory. They were not used to seeing an opponent steal a few rounds from Davis while surviving for 12 rounds. What Cruz did was a far cry from how most boxers fared against Davis. Since Cruz held his own, they felt that he won the fight against Davis, but time will show that Cruz fell short of a decision victory.

A ⭐ was born.@IsaacPitbull98 showed out despite the loss 🙌#DavisCruz pic.twitter.com/3VlTQTLdaO

— SHOWTIME Boxing (@ShowtimeBoxing) December 6, 2021

Cruz’s performance was impressive because he stepped in on one month’s notice to fight one of the best pound-for-pound boxers on the planet. He was expected to get knocked out by Davis and he produced his own offense for an extended period of time.

Based on his performance against Davis, Cruz has the support of the boxing community to challenge for another lightweight title in 2022. Most recently, lightweight Ryan Garcia called out Cruz for a fight. That would be a difficult test for both fighters because of their respective styles.

Cruz has plenty of options this year because of his introduction to many boxing fans. He has the ability to become one of boxing’s newest stars with a win over a top lightweight.