{"id":909881,"date":"2026-09-29T14:32:17","date_gmt":"2026-09-29T14:32:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/909881\/"},"modified":"2026-09-29T14:32:17","modified_gmt":"2026-09-29T14:32:17","slug":"pro-boxers-gave-dominick-cruz-a-reality-check-in-sparring","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/909881\/","title":{"rendered":"Pro Boxers Gave Dominick Cruz a Reality Check in Sparring"},"content":{"rendered":"

The former UFC bantamweight champion explains how elite boxers used to catch him off guard during training and even today. <\/p>\n

Dominick Cruz has been in combat sports for a long time, with his reign in WEC and later as UFC champion. He has trained with elites for years and has been a champion across two of the top promotions.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Many coaches still use Cruz\u2019s fights as technical material. With years of experience, Cruz revealed that sparring with top-tier boxers was a hard part.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Dominick Cruz Reveals His Old Training With Boxers<\/p>\n

In a recent episode of Love & War with Dominick Cruz on YouTube, the UFC<\/a> veteran invited the flyweight kingpin, Joshua Van.\u00a0<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

During their conversation, Cruz assessed Van\u2019s fighting style and asked whether he trains with pro boxers at his camps. While revealing his own experience, Cruz said, “I brought a top 15 guy in the WBC one time, and after four rounds, bro\u2026 if I were to have to go five. I’ve had some pro boxers that are just sharp, and they’re doing what you’re doing. I swing, and the punch misses them by a centimeter, and they’re just right in my face again.”<\/p>\n

The UFC flyweight champion Joshua Van instantly identified the mechanism. He said, \u201cIt\u2019s the footwork; it\u2019s in the calf, bro.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cruz Breaks Down Joshua Van\u2019s Fighting Style<\/p>\n

In the same episode, Van, who recently had his second successful title defense by dominating the former champion Alexandre Pantoja, talked about his counter-punching style<\/a>, which differs from the traditional one.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Van explained that he walks forward while counter-striking, unlike the typical approach, where fighters move backward to counter opponents pressuring them. He labelled it a basic one, two, and body.\u00a0<\/p>\n

However, Cruz, a veteran of the sport who held titles in both UFC and WEC, corrected Van\u2019s assessment. He explained that Van isn\u2019t a counter-striker in the traditional sense. Instead, he sets up his counter by throwing the first jab.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The champion absorbed the correction. Interestingly, he has executed his practice in many of his fights. At 24, Van is a UFC champion with two title defenses under his name and an 18-2 pro record. It will be interesting to see what\u2019s in line for him next.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The former UFC bantamweight champion explains how elite boxers used to catch him off guard during training and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":909882,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[570],"tags":[64,63,73126,786,41111,785,85,787,465360],"class_list":["post-909881","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mma","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-dominick-cruz","tag-fighting","tag-joshua-van","tag-mma","tag-sports","tag-ufc","tag-ufc-331-van-vs-pantoja-2"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/909881","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=909881"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/909881\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/909882"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=909881"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=909881"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=909881"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}