Terry Flanagan turbos past Orlando Cruz in eight

Terry Flanagan is unbeaten in 33 bouts. Photo: www.frankwarren.com

Nov

CARDIFF – Terry Flanagan used his natural size advantage to power past Orlando Cruz, stopping the game but over matched Puerto Rican in eight rounds on Saturday in Wales.

From the get go the WBO lightweight titleholder assumed the roll of aggressor and pressed Cruz, who back-pedaled and used his experience to fiddle his way through the early rounds. By the third round Cruz was cut.

As the rounds passed, Flanagan stepped up his assault before finally getting the stoppage at 0:43 seconds of the eighth round.

It was a win Flanagan (32-0, 13 KOs), THE RING’s No. 2-rated fighter at 135 pounds, needed having failed to impresses in his two previous outings. However, it should be noted that Cruz (25-5-1, 13 Knockouts) had never previously fought above 130 pounds. Hopefully, Flanagan is able to step up and fight some of the more known lightweight standouts in 2017. His mandatory challenger is another Puerto Rican, Felix Verdejo who would likely be a much tougher task.

In the co-featured bout of the night, Liam Williams (16-0-1, 11 KOs) became the first person to stop rugged Gabor Gorbics (22-5, 14 KOs), bludgeoning the Hungarian to the canvas in the eighth round.

Williams, who was recently voted Best Young British Fighter of 2016, had to deal with a late opponent change forced upon him because Ahmet Patterson was attacked last week. It didn’t seem to effect the Welshman who pressed Gorbics from the start landing a greater assortment of punches. As the rounds pasted Williams continued to press until Gorbics wilted in a neutral corner in the early stages of round eight.