It has happened many times before. A fighter brought in to face a young, undefeated fighter that is on a collision course for a big money fight. Or even a world title opportunity down the line. Most often, the unbeaten fighter is not only favored to win such a fight, but he is expected to do so in an impressive manner over the underdog fighter. Such was the case just 10 days ago, when then-unbeaten Luis Cruz fought against Juan Carlos Burgos on the undercard of the Manny Pacquiao-Juan Manuel Marquez bout in Las Vegas. In the eyes of many members of the media, Cruz was supposed to defeat the hard-hitting Mexican.

Burgos deserved better. The 26 year old had only lost once in his professional career and was ranked in the top five by a major sanctioning body. Still, Burgos understood the situation at hand: He was fighting the house fighter (Cruz is promoted by Top Rank) and was an underdog to members of the media and fight fans alike.

However, Burgos flipped the script and fought a mostly-solid fight against Cruz. Burgos started very well and finished strong, earning a hard-fought 10 round majority decision.

“It didn’t bother me that I was the underdog,” said Burgos at a luncheon on Monday to celebrate his victory over Cruz. “I just demonstrated what I was capable of and that I was just as good if not a better fighter than him.”

Also at the luncheon, Burgos was officially presented with two belts that he had won that night: the WBC silver super featherweight title and the WBO Latino super featherweight title.

Burgos (28-1, 19 KO’s) is co-promoted by Thompson Boxing Promotions and Banner Promotions.
Burgos had won two bouts in a row since the only loss on his record, which was a 12 round unanimous decision to Hozumi Hasegawa last November. Even in defeat, Burgos, who made his professional debut 16 days shy of his 17th birthday, gained a great deal of experience in the fight.

“I learned a great deal in my first loss,” said the soft-spoken Burgos, who resides in Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico. “I learned that I could not be too confident going into a fight, especially a world title bout. I reflected and moved on to this opportunity. My preparation was very well for this fight and I demonstrated it against Cruz.”

Burgos knew what he was up against with Cruz. The Puerto-Rican fighter had mowed through decent, but not stellar competition within the last year or so. In his last fight in September, Cruz brutally knocked out former world title challenger Antonio Davis.

Studying film from Cruz’s victory over Martin Honorio, Burgos and his team, which includes former bantamweight Gerardo Espinoza, put together a game plan that would take the fight to Cruz.

“We saw that Cruz was not as fast or hit as hard. He (Cruz) hit Honorio solid, but the punches did not affect him. As you saw, the left hand kept landing for me. I had to box him and not fall into his fight. We had to win as many rounds as possible because he was the promoter’s fighter.”
“This was the fight of my life and I was pleased with my performance.”

Although Burgos won two regional belts at 130 pounds, he wants to still campaign at 126 pounds. Burgos has campaigned at mostly featherweight and went up in weight to fight Cruz on November 12th.

Burgos is eager to get back in the gym and face another top fighter in the featherweight division. No more 10 round fights. No more tune-ups. Burgos is eager to face the best of what the division has to offer.

“My main objective is to face the best fighters at 126 pounds. I want to be a world champion in the featherweight division. I want to fight the best fighters out there. I think that I demonstrated against Cruz that I’m capable of fighting and beating those fighters.”

When asked about whom he would like to face, Burgos responded, “Whomever. Jhonny Gonzalez. Orlando Salido. Juan Manuel Lopez. (Miguel Angel) Mikey Garcia. I want to fight the best out there.”

Burgos has slowly emerged as a legitimate contender. He is also an emerging contender from the fight town of Tijuana, which has seen its great deal of champions and contenders.
Located along the border opposite the city of San Diego, Tijuana just might see another one of its fighters win a world title belt as soon as next year. Although Burgos is eager for that to happen, he is not getting ahead of himself and actually respects those Tijuana fighters that came before him.

“It is a great motivation for me to be another fighter to win a world title from Tijuana. Obviously my uncle (Victor Burgos), (Antonio) DeMarco, (Antonio) Margarito, Erik (Morales) have kept Tijuana on the boxing map. Seeing those fighters and their success motivates me to become a world champion. I definitely give extra work in the gym because of that.”

Everything may have been in line for Cruz to win. Except Burgos did not receive the memo that Cruz was supposed to win. Instead, Burgos did fight the bout of his career, winning a deserving decision.

Next time a bout takes place between an unbeaten fighter on the rise and “the underdog,” do not always assume that the unbeaten fighter will win.

Juan Carlos Burgos proved that theory does not always hold true. Based in his eagerness to face the best and well-known fighters in the division, he is eager to prove people wrong again.

 

http://www.fightnews.com/Boxing/juan-carlos-burgos-receives-belts-after-upset-win-102512

Los Angeles, CA – Champion Juan Carlos Burgos was on hand at El Paseo Inn Restaurant at the historic Placita Olvera earlier today to receive his WBO Latino Super featherweight belt and his WBC International silver super featherweight/ WBC Latino super featherweight belt.

Burgos, who is co-promoted by Thompson Boxing Promotions and Banner Promotions, earned the belts by battling for 10-tough rounds against hard punching Puertorican Luis Cruz on the opening televised bout of the November 12 Pacquiao-Marquez trilogy undercard.

Burgos had this to say about the battle, “Some of Cruz’s people thought that I was going to be an opponent that would only last three rounds.  Even if you watch the video, you can hear his trainers telling him that I was not at Cruz’s level.  But I proved everybody wrong.”

When asked about his future plans, Burgos stated:  “My main focus now is to become world champion.  I owe it to my family, my team and my promoters who have always believed in me.  I would love to take on Yoriokis Gamboa.  I will fight him at any weight… featherweight, super featherweight, lightweight, catch weight.   You name the weight and I will fight him.  I would also love to be matched up against current WBC featherweight champion Jonnhy Gonzalez.  We were supposed to fight each other  in September of 2010 but he went another direction.  I don’t know if he is afraid of me but I really feel he is ducking me.”

Other fighters mentioned on Burgos’ wish list were, IBF Featherweight champion Billy Dib, highly ranked featherweight Mickey Garcia, Super featherweights Juan Manuel Lopez and WBC Champion Takahiro Aoh and lastly IBF Super featherweight champion Juan Carlos Salgado.

Burgos (28-1, 19 KOs), is scheduled to make his return the ring in the first trimester of 2012.

 

WBO Latino featherweight champion Juan Carlos Burgos told The Boxing Lab, BoxingScene.com’s official audio show that he feels that Luis Cruz overlooked him in their fight this past Saturday in Las Vegas, Nevada.  Burgos, who moved up to 130 pounds for the fight, feels the Puerto Rican fighter was already looking ahead to future fights including a potential title shot.

“They thought it was going to be an easy fight. They didn’t give me any credit. At the press conference they said they would be a champ in 2012. This was a very big fight for me,” Burgos told The Boxing Lab’s Ernie Gabion.

Burgos said that they formulated their game plan based in part on Cruz’s fight versus Martin Honrio that took place this past April.

“We saw his fight before with Honorio and he was hitting him with a lot of left hooks so that was our strategy. After I hit the hooks early on he didn’t have as much movement so I knew the hooks were working. We were using them from the head to the body,”. Burgos told The Boxing Lab.

Burgos said that they wanted to apply pressure on Cruz from the opening bell. Based on the Honorio fight, he didn’t think Cruz would be abe to withstand the pressure.

“Our plan was to pressure him from the opening rounds and that is what we did,” said Burgos.

Cruz started to come on late but it was a case of too little too late. When asked if he was tiring towards the end of the fight, Cruz responded by saying, “I wasn’t tired at all. I was in great condition. Early on I connected on Cruz a lot. My strategy was to move around later on to frustrate Cruz and make him make mistakes.”

 

By Ryan Burton

http://www.boxingscene.com/?m=show&opt=printable&id=46067

MGM Grand, Las Vegas – Juan Carlos Burgos (28-1, 19KOs) won a ten round majority decision over previously undefeated Luis Cruz (19-1, 15KOs). The scores were 95-95, 97-93 and 98-92 for Burgos, who captures the WBO Latino junior lightweight championship.

After a fairly even first round, Burgos opened up in the second and stunned Cruz. Burgos dominated the third round, landing combinations and shaking Cruz up on more than one occasion. Cruz began to pick up the pace in the fourth. He was taking the punches better and started boxing smart with calculated counters in the fifth. By the seventh, Cruz’s right eye was swelling shut. The action was close in the late rounds, but Burgos had the slight edge due to his accurate punches and a good left hand that barely missed.

http://www.boxingscene.com/?m=show&opt=printable&id=45969

The WBO Latino Jr. Lightweight and undefeated Luis “El Artesano” Cruz stated today that he is physically fit, just days before his showdown against Antonio Davis. The fight will be the co-main event for the clash between Yuriorkis Gamboa and Daniel Ponce de León, this coming Saturday, September 10th, at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, NJ.

“I am in excellent physical condition for this next fight. I prepare very well for all of my fights, but since I was crowned Latino champion, each engagement is more challenging and more difficult. So we have worked hard for this one”, Cruz stated after finishing a workout for the media in the Caimito Gym in San Juan.

Cruz (18-0, 14 KOs) is focused on securing a convincing victory over Davis (28-6, 13 KOs), an experienced and seasoned fighter, a native of Atlanta, Georgia.

“I want to make a good impression in my victory this coming Saturday in Atlantic City. From now on every fight means a lot and I will be in the center of many eyes. I will be crowned world champion. I will beat Davis convincingly. I have trained with my trainer Freddy Trinidad and we have a good strategy,” predicted Cruz.

On his experience fighting at 130 pounds, Cruz emphasized once more that he feels stronger.

“I can tell you that I feel stronger and faster at 130 pounds. I make my meals normally but with smaller portions”, stated Cruz, who began his career at 126 pounds. Cruz finally talked about his future after this fight.

“The first step now is to beat Davis strongly. We should be back in the ring on November 12 on Pacquiao-Marquez 3, which is good for me because I will be seen on a mega fight card with a great opportunity for the fans to see me in action. I am a few steps away from being crowned world champion and I want to thank my promoters Miguel Cotto Promotions and Top Rank,” he concluded.

“El Artesano” will leave for Atlantic City with his team this coming Wednesday, September 7th on a U.S. Airways flight at 8:45 am.

http://www.boxingscene.com/photos-luis-cruz-training-hard-gamboa-card–43420