Cuban phenom Cruz makes professional bow on July 15 / Baumgardner defends crown in Detroit
One of the greatest amateur fighters of all time, Andy Cruz, will begin what many people expect to be an incredibly promising professional career when he faces the Mexican Juan Carlos Burgos at the Masonic Temple in Detroit, Michigan. The fight will be broadcast live and exclusively worldwide on DAZN.
Also on the card, Alycia Baumgardner defends her Undisputed super featherweight crown against former foe Christina Linardatou, and the unbeaten Richardson Hitchins faces Montana Love for the IBF North American super lightweight title.
Cruz, from the extraordinary boxing nation of Cuba, recently signed a promotional deal with Eddie Hearn and Matchroom Boxing, and fans worldwide have been very excited to see how Cruz, and other amateur standouts perform in the professional game upon the lifting of the ban on professional boxing in the country.
He claimed three World Championship gold medals, and an Olympic Games gold medal in 2020 in the amateur ranks, and now it remains to be seen how quickly Cruz will be fastracked to glory in an already stacked lightweight division.
If Cruz can dispatch the veteran Burgos, as expected, then a potential meeting with old amateur rival and undefeated professional hopeful Keyshawn Davis may be a potential avenue to go down in the very near future.
In the main event of the evening, the 130-pound ruler Alycia Baumgardner [14-1, 7 KO’s] is granted the homecoming of her dreams, as she defends the super featherweight titles she brilliantly unified against Mikaela Mayer in the United Kingdom last October, and Elhem Makhaled in New York in February.
The 28 year old Detroit native also gets a chance at revenge, as the only loss on her ledger came at the hands of Christina Linardatou [14-2, 6 KO’s] by way of split decision back in 2018. If she can get past Linardatou at the second time of asking, then Baumgardner will have her pick of opportunities at huge fights down the line, most notably a possible rematch against rival Mikaela Mayer, or a move north to challenge Undisputed lightweight champion Katie Taylor, on Taylors return to 135lbs following her upset defeat against Chantelle Cameron in Dublin this weekend.
“It was a blessing to be able to fight overseas in front of an international audience to unify titles; and then to finally become undisputed in my home country at MSG, was so amazing!” said Baumgardner.
“But to come back home to the Midwest, where I grew up, where I learned how to work, where my life was shaped, where my faith was forged, and then to headline in my adopted home of Detroit for my first undisputed title defense; I am truly realizing a dream come true.
“In one of the world’s most storied cities for boxing, I get to put on show and show out in front of the people who’ve supported me and know me best. I get to thank the region that helped make me who I am. I get to show the world that a little girl from Fremont, came back home as the Undisputed Champion of the World, and let all those other midwestern little girls like me know that they can reach any dream they can imagine.”