LAS VEGAS – Kent Cruz survived two fifth-round knockdowns Saturday afternoon and barely remained undefeated.
The junior welterweight from St. Louis boxed well over the final three rounds with Enriko Gogokhia, with whom he settled for an eight-round split draw on the non-televised portion of the Keith Thurman-Mario Barrios undercard at Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino’s Michelob ULTRA Arena. Judge Tim Cheatham scored their back-and-forth fight 76-74 for Cruz (16-0-2, 10 KOs), who lost 76-74 on the card of Glenn Feldman.
Judge Ricardo Ocasio scored five rounds for Cruz, but he had it even, 75-75, due to the two knockdowns during the fifth round.
Gogokhia, a southpaw from The Republic of Georgia, was left with the first blemish on his professional record (13-0-1, 8 KOs).
Cruz continued to out-box Gogokhia during the seventh and eighth rounds. Gogokhia wasn’t able to land the type of right hook in either of those rounds that dropped Cruz twice during the fifth round.
After suffering two knockdowns during the fifth round, Cruz regained his composure and boxed well throughout the sixth round. He kept Gogokhia at the end of his jab and seemingly won the round.
Following a competitive fourth round, Gogokhia knocked Cruz to the canvas with a right hook early in the fifth round. Cruz reached his feet and tried to fight back, but Gogokhia sent him to his gloves and knees again with another right hook.
Cruz once again got up, only to have Gogokhia press him to try to knock him out. Cruz managed to fend him off and make it to the end of the fifth round.
Cruz knocked Gogokhia backward with a right hand during the middle minute of the third round, when Cruz controlled the action and kept Gogokhia on his back foot.
Gogokhia had a strong second round. He hit Cruz with a left-right combination that knocked Cruz off balance in the middle minute of that round and landed several additional straight lefts during the second half of it.
Cruz caught Gogokhia with multiple right hands that he won convincingly.
The fight following the split draw between Cruz and Gogokhia barely began before it ended.
Referee Russell Mora declared Keith Hunter a technical-knockout winner of that bout 1:42 into it because Jesus Carrillo suffered a cut from a punch that prevented him from continuing. Hunter (14-1, 9 KOs), a cruiserweight from Las Vegas, became just the second opponent to stop Mexico’s Carrillo (10-7-2, 4 KOs) inside the distance during his eight-year, 19-fight pro career.
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.
