Erika Cruz Fights To Split Draw With Nazarena Romero, Retains WBA Title

Erika Cruz and Nazarena Romero were fit to be tied.

The judges were split and unable to declare a winner in Saturday’s WBA junior featherweight title fight in Aguascalientes, Mexico. Both fighters won 97-93 on separate cards, while a 95-95 verdict determined the split decision draw verdict.

Mexico City’s Cruz relied on pure volume to bank early rounds. The two-division and defending 122-pound titlist has made a career out of outslugging her opponents and attempted a similar approach here. Argentina’s Romero was prepared for that approach and used ring space to often make Cruz miss the mark.

Romero was the cleaner puncher during most of the exchanges. However, there were too many moments where she did not let her hands go, which ultimately cost her the title win. Romero—Cruz’s mandatory challenger—also allowed Cruz to close strong in several close rounds where she controlled the early portion.

Cruz targeted Romero’s bloody nose and landed with her left hook in a dominant seventh round. Momentum greatly shifted in the eighth. Romero found her rhythm and neutralized Cruz’s offensive attack with power shots upstairs. Her determination to load up on every shot reduced her output, but it was enough to dull Cruz’s power.

Both fighters let their hands go in an active but sloppy tenth and final round. There was little separation in the final two minutes, fitting to the fight’s outcome.

Romero danced to the house music during the long delay in getting to the scorecards. The unbeaten mandatory challenger was gracious as she was forced to settle for a draw. It was her second straight fight to end in that fashion, both with the WBA 122-pound title at stake. Romero (13-0-2, 7 knockouts) fought Rivas to a technical draw last June in Buenos Aires.

Cruz is now 17-2-1 (3 KOs) as she defended the WBA 122-pound title for the first time. She won the belt in a ten-round, majority decision over Mayerlin Rivas last November 18 in Inglewood, California.

The win came nine months after Cruz’s WBA featherweight ended in a ten-round defeat to Amanda Serrano. Their Fight of the Year slugfest destroyed Compubox records for most combined punches thrown in a women’s championship fight. Serrano won via unanimous decision to fully unify the featherweight division.

Cruz is now 4-1-1 in major title fights. She dethroned long-reigning WBA featherweight titlist Jelena Mrdjenovich in April 2021 and made two successful defenses before the heartbreaking defeat to Serrano.

Saturday’s bout was part of an unofficial tournament presented by Matchroom Boxing, with the goal to fully unify the 122-pound division. Ellie Scotney (9-0, 0 KOs) is The Ring champ and unified IBF/WBO titlist. Yamileth Mercado (23-3, 5 KOs) defends her WBC title versus the iconic Ramla Ali (9-1, 2 KOs) on the June 29 Juan Francisco Estrada-Jesse ‘Bam’ Rodriguez DAZN show in Phoenix, Arizona. Cruz, Scotney and Ali are all promoted by Matchroom.

Jake Donovan is a senior writer for The Ring and vice president of the Boxing Writers Association of America.

Follow @JakeNDaBox