Bizarre Ending to Gabriela Fundora-Christina Cruz Title Fight
Gabriela Fundora (13-0, 6 KOs, 1 NC) got the TKO win over Christina Cruz (6-1, 0 KOs) in the tenth round, but she was made to earn it in a fight that had a bizarre ending.
The championship bout took place on the undercard of Jaime Munguía’s clash against John Ryder. This fight opened the DAZN-only broadcast at the Footprint Center in Phoenix, AZ. Fundora was making the first defence of her IBF title in a fight presented by Golden Boy Promotions in collaboration with Sampson Boxing. She originally won the belt with a fifth-round stoppage over then champion Arely Muciño.
Gabriela Fundora Gets Stoppage Over Christina Cruz
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Gabriela Fundora Retains IBF Strap in Bizarre Circumstances
The two fighters spent most of the opening round pawing at each other. Both attempted to establish their jab, but the southpaw-orthodox combination meant they were hitting each other’s gloves. Cruz moved a lot along the ropes, preventing Fundora from letting her hands go. “The Hell’s Kitchen Kid” was clearly given the reigning champion trouble with her lateral movement.
As the fight went on, “Sweet Poison” was able to claw her way back into the fight, letting her hands go and attempting to close off the ring. A swinging left hand that missed from Cruz caused her to move to her right in the tenth round. Around that time, Fundora landed a right hand which resulted in Cruz turning her back towards her opponent. The IBF champion landed some punches while Cruz had her back turned, after which referee Chris Flores waved off the clash at the 0:59 mark.
The stoppage will be cause for debate in the coming days. For now, Fundora remains the IBF flyweight champion with a successful first defence of her belt. The win also kicked off her co-promotional deal with Golden Boy Promotions.
#ANDSTILL, the IBF Flyweight Champ, @GabrielaFundor3 with the TKO win 🙌
The action continues on the #MunguiaRyder main card, LIVE on https://t.co/FoiaUucafv 🥊 pic.twitter.com/EUC1fS2Bd6
— DAZN Boxing (@DAZNBoxing) January 28, 2024
Undercard Results
David Picasso (27-0-1, 15 KOs), listed as Alan Picasso Romero on BoxRec, won a unanimous decision against Erik Ruiz (17-10-1, 7 KOs). Scores for the 10-round featherweight clash were 99-91 and 98-92 (x2).
On the prelims that were also available on YouTube, Daniel Garcia (8-0, 6 KOs) had an eye-catching knockout win over Daniel Lugo (4-2, 1 KO) in a six-round lightweight fight. The time of stoppage was 1:51 of round one.
WOW! 😮
A highlight reel KO by Daniel Garcia 🙌
Now we head to the #MunguiaRyder main card as it begins at 6 PM MT/ 8 ET/ 1 AM GMT, LIVE on https://t.co/FoiaUucI53 🥊 pic.twitter.com/yNwAVzQ2ju
— DAZN Boxing (@DAZNBoxing) January 28, 2024
Gregory Morales (16-1, 9 KOs) got the unanimous decision win over Ronal Ron (14-5, 11 KOs) in an eight-round featherweight bout. Scores were 80-72, 79-73 and 78-74.
Gael Cabrera (4-0, 2 KOs) won a unanimous decision over Miguel Ceballos (2-1, 2 KOs) in a four-round super bantamweight clash. Scores were 40-34 and 39-35 (x2). Ceballos went down twice in round one.
Jonathan Cañas (3-0, 2 KOs) got a technical knockout in the opening round over Kameeko Hall (0-4, 0 KOs). The time of stoppage for this four-round lightweight bout was 1:04.
Be sure to return to Big Fight Weekend for the final recap of Munguía-Ryder.
