Q&A “Cheo” Cruz!

June 19, 2006

by Lee Bates

Photo by Brad Thyroff

The journey of 2000 Olympian Jose "Cheo" Leonardo Cruz (11-1-2, 7 KOs) has finally come to point where he has a chance to make himself known to the boxing public. On Friday June 24, in front of a nationally televised audience, Cruz will battle proven veteran Fernando Trejo.

Since turning professional in 2001, Cruz`s career has never really elevated to the next level. The former Colombian representative at the 2000 Olympic Games in Sidney, has had to watch other current fighters who participated in those games careers` take off.

As a professional, Cruz was the first fighter to defeat current World Ranked Lightweight Edner Cherry.  Cruz spoke with fightnews about his upset of Edner Cherry and the circumstances under which he took the fight, that though he has one loss on his record he should literally be undefeated, and his plan for victory in his upcoming fight with Trejo.

Jose, let’s began talking about those 2000 Olympic Games. Those Olympics produced some of our top stars today. Tell us a little about what you remember?

I remember winning in the first round of those Olympics. I advanced to take on Kid Diamond. I’m not going to sit here and say that I won that fight but in the Olympics it’s a points system and I don’t think the margin was as wide as the judges scored it for him.

Your career got off to a promising start in 2001 as you took on defeating Edner Cherry in your professional debut. (Cherry is now a World Ranked Lightweight)  Tell us about that fight if you would?

I was in Colombia at the time and received the call on short notice. I had to come to Florida where the fight would be held and only had 10 days to prepare for the fight. I knew nothing about him at that time.  It was a very tough fight for me and then on top of that the fight was not in my weight class of 130. He was very aggressive but I was able to counter his aggressiveness and out-box him en-route to a decision.

You stated that you should be undefeated. Explain that?

I took on a fighter names Christian Lozada back in 2004 in New Jersey. I was clearly winning the fight over the first two rounds. In round three, I knocked him down and the referee sent me to the neutral corner and began to count, but Lozada was in no condition to continue and the fight was stopped.  So I’m thinking to myself, as any other fighter would, that I had had just won by knockout, but then the referee stated that I did not win and that I was going to be either going to be disqualified or the fight was going to be ruled a no contest.

So, did you hit him while he was down or was the punch that caused the knockdown a legal punch?

I did not hit him while he was on the canvas and I hit him with a legal combination. I appealed to the commission but nothing was ever done. To this day, I don’t know why I was not the winner by knockout.

Trejo is a very solid fighter with his biggest most recent victory was in 2005 when he knocked out then unbeaten 20-0 Jose Armando Santa Cruz. Did you see that fight and what is your plan to defeat Trejo?

I did not see his fight with Santa Cruz, but I did see a more recent fight of his. He’s a very good fighter and throws a lot of punches but I do think that my overall boxing skills will lead me to victory. I’m in very good condition for this fight and plan on making the most of my big opportunity to be on national television.

Anything you want to say in closing?

Yes I want to say hello to Children Jose Leonardo Jr, Jose Enrique, Maria Jose, my mother Tere, and my wife Monica. They are all in Colombia and I have not seen them in more than 1 year. I’m dedicating this fight to all of them and if it’s god’s will, I see them all shortly after this fight.

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