We vividly recall that when Roberto Cruz won the vacant WBC light welterweight title with a spectacular 1st round knockout of Mexico?s ?Battling Torres? at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles which the WBC refers to as Gilmore Field, the fight was telecast on a delayed basis over IBC 13 which was then owned by the late Andres ?Andy? Soriano.
If my memory serves me well we did the coverage along with Bobby Ng with whom we did a weekly boxing show that telecast some of the great fights of the late Gabriel ?Flash? Elorde.
Cruz dropped Torres with a stunning left hook twice in the opening round and the Mexican was stopped at 2 minutes and 7 seconds of the round.
The battle between Cruz and Torres was part of a triple header in which Emile Griffith clashed with Luis Manuel Rodriguez in a welterweight title fight and Sugar Ramos battled Davey Moore in a featherweight championship bout.
It was a night that eventually ended in tragedy when Moore was rushed to hospital and passed away four days later due to a whiplash sustained when he hit the bottom rope after being knocked out in the 10th round.
Rodriguez won a 15 round unanimous decision over Griffith who, in the process, lost his WBC, WBA and Ring Magazine welterweight titles.
Cruz returned to a hero?s welcome but personal problems ruined his career and he lost in his very first title defense at the Rizal Memorial Baseball Stadium where some 25,000 fight fans watched in anguish as Cruz, the handsome fighter from Baguio City was battered by former world champion Eddie Perkins who dropped Cruz in the opening round and had him groggy in rounds three and six before coasting to a fifteen round unanimous decision.
We covered that fight with the late ?Smokin Joe? Cantada for dzHP Radio.
Photo: Roberto Cruz (2nd from left).
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