NEW YORK – Jose Valenzuela laughed off Isaac Cruz’s criticism.

Cruz contends that Valenzuela ran from him throughout their 12-round, 140-pound title fight six months ago in Los Angeles. The truth, Valenzuela argued, is that Cruz can’t handle the reality that a more diverse southpaw employed a game plan that an aggressive orthodox boxer couldn’t combat when these native Mexicans fought on the Terence Crawford-Israil Madrimov undercard August 3 at BMO Stadium.

Judges Rudy Barragan and Pat Russell each scored eight rounds for Valenzuela, who won 116-112 on their cards. Cruz won 115-113, according to judge Edward Hernandez Sr.

“He doesn’t get it,” Valenzuela told The Ring. “It’s like math. He’s stuck at simple math, but there’s algebra, geometry, so he doesn’t register it because he can’t do it. You know, so he doesn’t understand it. His IQ, he doesn’t have that capacity. So, I understand why he says that [I ran from him]. He only knows how to do one thing. I was right in his face the whole time. I was in the pocket. I was hitting him with uppercuts.

“The second part of the fight he was walking back, he was moving around, back. But I don’t know – maybe it’s just an excuse. I was too much for him. I was going left, I was going right, I was going back, and he had no answers. I studied him very well. And I fought guys like ‘Pitbull’ my whole life, so I was ready for that moment.”

Valenzuela (14-2, 9 KOs) will make his first defense of the WBA belt he won from Cruz against Gary Antuanne Russell (17-1, 17 KOs) on Saturday night in the 12-round co-feature before Gervonta “Tank” Davis defends his WBA lightweight title versus Lamont Roach in the 12-round main event at Barclays Center in Brooklyn. The four-fight Premier Boxing Champions pay-per-view show headlined by Davis-Roach is scheduled to start at 8 p.m. ET ($79.99).

The 25-year-old Valenzuela validated his style shift from power puncher to boxer-puncher by beating the dangerous Cruz (27-3-1, 18 KOs), who battered Rolando “Rolly” Romero (16-2, 13 KOs) on his way to an eighth-round stoppage to win that title four months earlier at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. Before his first defeat, a third-round knockout against Dominican southpaw Edwin De Los Santos in September 2022 at Staples Center in Los Angeles, Valenzuela believes he became too reliant on his power because he wanted to be known as a knockout artist.

“I found the sweet spot and I was knocking guys out,” Valenzuela said. “I fell in love with it a little bit. So, you know, it was just getting back to boxing.”

Even while boxing, Valenzuela pointed out that he fought from the inside at times with the shorter, rugged Cruz, whom he hit with left uppercuts and right hooks. When Valenzuela didn’t make Cruz miss, he displayed a reliable chin against his hardest-hitting opponent since De Los Santos stopped him.

“I have a lot of dimensions in me,” said Valenzuela, a slight favorite over Russell according to DraftKings sportsbook. “I’m a very complete fighter. When I grew up, started boxing, I was a boxer. I was moving around the ring, I was a very athletic kid compared to everybody else in my gym growing up. I fought guys like ‘Pitbull.’ You know, I been dancing around guys my whole life, but I switched my style up [to that of a puncher] and it just wasn’t it.

“I had to make a drastic change just to get back to me. With the Colbert fight I had to come back and make a statement with the knockout. And with the ‘Pitbull’ Cruz fight, I had to show my skills, my different dimensions, little experience stuff, you know, touching him and ring generalship, stuff that I should’ve been doing a long time ago.”