SAN DIEGO — Fight week has arrived. Isaac “Pitbull” Cruz has spent his career being the smaller man in the ring and making it a problem for everyone else. On Saturday, September 19 at Pechanga Arena, he takes that approach into the toughest test of his interim WBC super lightweight reign yet, defending his title in a 12-round main event against Puerto Rico’s Nestor Bravo, live on DAZN.
The matchup reads like trouble for Cruz before either man throws a punch. Bravo stands 5-foot-9, a full five inches taller than the 5-foot-4 Cruz, and backs that reach advantage with a 70 percent knockout rate, well above what’s typical even for a division built on power. Cruz has made a career out of closing that kind of gap through pressure and relentless volume, refusing to let bigger men find their range, but Bravo’s power gives him a real chance to make Cruz pay for walking forward without setting up his shots first.
Stephen R. Sylvanie-IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect
Jul 19, 2025; Las Vegas, Nevada, USA; Isaac Cruz fights Omar Salcido at MGM Grand Garden Arena. Mandatory Credit: Stephen R. Sylvanie-Imagn Images
This is Cruz’s second defense of the interim title he won over Omar Salcido in July, and the first fight of his career under Eddy Reynoso, the trainer behind Canelo Alvarez’s championship run. Cruz is now working out of Reynoso’s San Diego gym, the same city hosting Saturday’s card, and the early results of that partnership get their first real test against a live opponent. Cruz enters 28-3-2 with 18 knockouts, unbeaten since a March 2024 stoppage of Rolly Romero and coming off a majority draw with Lamont Roach in his last outing. At 24-1 with 17 knockouts, Bravo will look to follow up his January knockout of Pedro Campa, which erased his only professional loss, a stoppage to Xolisani Ndongeni.
“I’m facing a tough, aggressive fighter who comes forward and likes to engage,” Bravo said. “But I have all the skills and versatility to win by any means necessary.”
The co-main event carries weight of its own. Jesus “Mono” Ramos Jr., the rising Mexican star who holds the interim WBC middleweight title, makes his first defense against unbeaten mandatory challenger Meiirim Nursultanov of Kazakhstan. Ramos enters 24-1 with 19 knockouts, Nursultanov 20-0 with 11 and unbeaten as a professional. Two interim world titles on the same card gives Saturday a set of stakes that goes well beyond the main event alone.
The rest of the four-fight card rounds out with prospects looking to keep their records clean. Unbeaten super middleweight Daniel Blancas takes on once-beaten Sergio Jimenez in an eight or 10-round bout, and Marco Verde, Mexico’s first Olympic boxing medalist since 1984 after taking silver in Paris, opens the card against fellow unbeaten Guillermo Hernandez at middleweight.
TGB Promotions and Premier Boxing Champions present the card, streaming live on DAZN from Pechanga Arena.
Cruz hasn’t fought since December, and Saturday marks his first appearance under Reynoso’s guidance. A win keeps his climb toward bigger names at 140 pounds intact. A statement win, against a fighter with Bravo’s height and power, would go a long way toward proving the Reynoso move was worth the wait.