CRUZ CRUSHES  MIRANDA
WITH DEVASTATING ONE-PUNCH  KNOCKOUT
ON SHOBOX: THE NEW GENERATION
TULSA, Okla. (Jan. 17, 2009) –  Featherweight Orlando Cruz remained
undefeated Friday night with a devastating fifth-round knockout over
previously unbeaten Leonilo Miranda on ShoBox: The New Generation. Cruz  improved to
16-0-1 while Miranda fell to 24-1.The tripleheader on  SHOWTIME began with an impressive performance from 2008
United States Olympian  Gary Russell, Jr. Making his  professional debut, the
talented 126-pounder defeated Antonio Reyes by TKO at 0:21 of the  third
round. In the second fight of the telecast, Marvin Quintero out-performed
Nick Casal, who threw the towel in  after the third round.
The event, promoted  by Gary Shaw Productions, LLC, took  place at the Osage
Million Dollar Elm Casino in Tulsa, Okla. Cruz, of Puerto Rico,  entered the scheduled 10-round bout as an underdog,
but he never acted the part  against Miranda, of Mexico, who had knocked
out 23 of his 24  opponents. While he started a  bit slowly, Cruz never backed down. Early into the fifth
round of a close,  exciting fight, Cruz dropped Miranda with a solid left
hand to the chin.  While Miranda attempted to beat the  count, referee Steve
Smoger waved off the contest at 0:39. “I am so proud to win  and prove myself,’’ Cruz said. “This is my
first time fighting on national  television. This is very emotional for me. I am so
excited and humbled and this  only motivates me to keep working and keep
proving myself.” ShoBox analyst Steve  Farhood felt Miranda’s knockout percentage may have
hurt him.  “Miranda clearly suffered from having  knocked out so many
opponentsso easily,’’ Farhood said.  “When he didn’t get rid of Cruz, the
fight turned quite suddenly. To his credit, Cruz never lost his composure; he
stayed in the pocket and perfectly timed the one punch that ended the  fight.”
Russell, Jr., of  Capitol Heights, Md., was not overwhelmed with his
performance.  “I give myself a C+ for my performance  tonight,’’ he
said after whipping Reyes, of Dallas, whose record dropped to  3-3.  “But I am
excited that I got  this opportunity to have my pro debut on SHOWTIME.  I want to come
back as quickly as  possible and show everyone my A skills.”
In a bit of a  surprise, Mexico’s Quintero (15-1) mostly overpowered Casal
(18-4-1) of Chicago. After Quintero  thoroughly dominated the third round, Casal made the decision
to retire on his  stool. As he sat down, he could be overheard saying that he
didn’t want to  continue. When asked by his corner what the problem  was he responded, “No legs, no
legs man.  That’s it.  I’m done.”  His corner signaled to referee Mike  England
that the boxer did not intend to continue.