Nestor Bravo
Puerto Rican Contender
Bio
Nestor Bravo is the Puerto Rican super lightweight who gets the biggest night of his career on Saturday, challenging Isaac Cruz for the interim WBC super lightweight title at Pechanga Arena in San Diego.
He arrives once-beaten and, crucially, as the taller man. That matters enormously in this particular fight. Cruz is a short, thick, relentless pressure fighter who wants your chest against his and will happily spend twelve rounds there. Bravo's whole route to an upset runs through his jab, his feet and his willingness to refuse the fight Cruz wants.
Puerto Rico against Mexico is the oldest rivalry in the sport and it never needs selling. Bravo will bring support and it will be loud — it will also be heavily outnumbered in a building forty minutes from the border.
Make no mistake, this is a genuine opportunity. Beat Cruz and Bravo goes from a name on a card to a man with an interim world title and a queue of options at 140. That is what Saturday is worth to him.