McGuigan had no quit in him but Steve Cruz was just too much for him Eastwood sued McGuigan and Channel 5 Video, the makers of the video, for libel and was awarded $775,000 in … A couple good jabs from Cruz find McGuigan off balance.

Steele lets it go. McGuigan swings a left hook after a jab, then a right hand. Just like that, the unification mega-match between Joshua and the winner of the upcoming Deontay Wilder-Luis Ortiz rematch went up in smoke while Ruiz’s star shot into the stratosphere thanks to his roly-poly physique and Everyman persona. So while McGuigan was never the same fighter after losing to Cruz, Cruz was never the same fighter after defeating McGuigan. McGuigan with a stiff jab, and now he starts putting the pressure back in.

Cruz getting pushed around, but now Cruz pushes back. Cruz with a combination in close, then back out and McGuigan just looks lost. While Esparragoza went on to forge a four-year reign that included seven successful title defenses, Cruz soldiered on for six-and-a-half more years, going 10-6 (6 KOs). Simple: run Barry, run.

A replacement was needed and Bob Arum swiftly found one in the shape of the unheralded Texan, Steve Cruz. Again at the bell, McGuigan lands. In my view, all eight of these rounds were clear. But what could never be touched was Barry McGuigan the man: and, of course, he was the guy that Sandra and the kids truly depended on. Thirty seconds in, his legs forsook him as he back-pedalled across the ring at pace before sidling along the ropes and slumping into the neutral corner.

But in the round’s later stages, Cruz turned the fight — and McGuigan himself — on his head after connecting with a snappy counter hook that drove the champion to a knee near one of the neutral corners. He scored an upset of Tracy Harris Patterson in 1989, earning him a shot at and loss to IBF titlist Jorge Paez.

Nothing lands too hard, and then Cruz lands a beautiful series of hard punches, backing McGuigan down with a right hand.

A knifing right to the face was enough for McGuigan to topple backward, bounce off the ropes and fall to the canvas for the second time in the round. McGuigan goes right back to the attack. Cruz with a right that stings him again. The knockdown significantly closed whatever lead McGuigan had built on the scorecards, and as he trudged toward his corner the champion had the look of a weary and slightly discouraged operator. This time, Cruz came forward behind punches that hit the target with almost unerring precision. Cruz dictating pace again, which he did not do in the third. But for a pale-skinned Celt, hailing from a land in which the highest recorded temperature was a temperate 33C back in 1887, extremely hot does not even come close to articulating the ring conditions that day.

Add it up, and McGuigan spent half this fight, it seemed, punching fruitlessly.

He did receive a final title shot when he faced WBC featherweight beltholder Paul Hodkinson in 1992. Just all over Cruz, but then Cruz comes back!

To most observers the match-up was closer to a stay-busy outing for the Irishman than a genuine assault on his world title. Yet, just when momentum seemed to have swung decisively towards the Lone Star State, County Monaghan’s finest somehow wrestled back the initiative with six minutes of the gutsiest fighting you will ever see. McGuigan with a right! There is a lot to be said for the atmosphere of older fights. McGuigan fighting well inside with a hard left to the body, then they land jabs and Cruz fires away with hard shots again.

McGuigan targeting the body again, doing some nice work. The point taken in the 12th was huge, but even bigger was that knockdown. Many of those followers were visible among the 15,000 in situ at Caesar’s Palace and they soon became audible as Michael Buffer handed the microphone to McGuigan’s father.

Cruz finally holds. Cruz taking the pace again, really turning it up with combination blows, catching McGuigan a bit off, and beating him to the punch to start this round. Upon losing the championship, Cruz never reached the heights again. Cruz backing to the ropes -- commentators pick up on the fact that when Cruz gets there, he consistently looks to counter. But to achieve all that, he had to defeat Cruz, who was earning $6.50 per hour as a plumber’s assistant and who entered the bout with a 25-1 (13 KOs) record as well as a No.

Spotting Duran posing for a photographer, McGuigan smiled and shouted, ‘hey, Duran,’ and leaped in front of the cameras and eagerly shook hands with the Panamanian legend.

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