Steve Cruz (boxer)
| Steve Cruz | |
|---|---|
| Statistics | |
| Real name | Estevan Cruz Jr |
| Nickname(s) | Super Kid Stevie Cruz |
| Rated at | Featherweight |
| Height | 5 ft 6 in (1.68 m) |
| Nationality | American |
| Born |
November 2, 1963 Fort Worth, Texas, US |
| Stance | Orthodox |
| Boxing record | |
| Total fights | 45 (Professional bouts) |
| Wins | 37 |
| Wins by KO | 19 |
| Losses | 8 |
| Draws | 0 |
| No contests | 0 |
Steve Cruz (born November 2, 1963) is a retired American professional boxer who became the WBA World Featherweight Champion on June 23, 1986. His trainer for much of his career was Don Gorman.
Cruz was born of modest means in a barrio on the South side of Fort Worth, Texas on November 2, 1963. He graduated from Trimble Technical High School. Fairly early in his career, Cruz was trained and managed by Don Gorman, who operated the influential Gorman Gym in Fort Worth. Donald Curry, who would take the WBC Superwelterweight title in 1988, also trained at the Gorman Gymnasium.
An exceptional amateur, Cruz won the 1979 National Junior Olympic Gold Medal at 112 pounds and the 1981 National Golden Gloves title at 119 pounds. He was also a three-time Fort Worth Golden Gloves champion and a two-time Star-Telegram Texas Golden Gloves champion.
Once turning professional, Cruz won his first nineteen fights between October 1981 and February 1984, fighting almost exclusively in Texas, with a few bouts in Las Vegas.
On October 22, 1982, Cruz defeated Nicky Perez at Fort Worth's Will Rogers Coliseum before 2,700 fans in a ten-round unanimous decision. It was Cruz's first main event fight and his first full ten rounder. Cruz commented that he mostly counterpunched and felt somewhat tired by the end of the tenth. Perez would take the National American Boxing Federation (NABF) Super Featherweight Title in his career. On November 9, Cruz would defeat Perez again in a in ten round unanimous points decision in Las Vegas. Cruz knocked Perez to the mat in the seventh and ninth rounds.
Cruz suffered one of his very few early career knockout losses to Lenny Valdez in Las Vegas in a first-round TKO, only 2:21 into the first round.
On December 3, 1985 Cruz defeated Tommy Cordova at the Showboat Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas in a ninth-round technical knockout. Cordova was down twice in the eighth and once in the ninth. Using hard rights, body shots, and an explosive left jab, Cruz sent Cordova to the mat three times in the bout and gave him a considerable beating. Cordova was down twice in the eighth, first from a left, and then from a right to the body. The bout was stopped by the referee, 2:32 into the ninth round, after Cordova had been down once, and then nearly fell again. The bout was featured on ESPN in some markets. Two months earlier, on September 25, 1985, Cordova had unexpectedly lost to Baby Joe Ruelaz, having had trouble making weight and needing to lose eight pounds quickly.
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