Battle at the Beach II took place on Saturday, February 8, 2020. The event was put on by Christy Martin Promotions. Christy Martin, “The Coalminer’s Daughter”, is a boxing legend who is a former world champion and is credited with helping legitimize women’s professional boxing.
One of the featured fighters at the event was local Seattle area professional, Liz Tuani, “The Humble Warrior.” Tuani had a long and successful kickboxing career before recently transitioning to the squared circle. She fought Bonita Springs, Florida native Rebecca Cruz. Cruz entered the fight with a 2-0 professional record with one KO and one TKO victory to her credit. The featherweight bout was scheduled for four rounds.
Ten seconds into the first round, both fighters stood toe to toe and engaged in a flurry of action. The combatants each displayed good hand speed in the initial exchange. Cruz scored with a couple of left hooks early. But Tuani answered with a left hook and right overhand. As the first round progressed, neither fighter showed any desire to back up and give ground to the other. Tuani landed a clean, hard left hook with 40 seconds remaining in the round. Cruz later scored with a clean straight right hand. Tuani landed a nice combination starting with a hard right hand, followed by a clean left hook that forced a clinch attempt by Cruz just prior to the end of the round. The first round was close, but Tuani rated the edge by landing the cleaner and harder shots.
Round 2 saw both fighters again start aggressively and setting a high pace. Tuani landed a nice combination starting with a straight right hand and finishing with a left hook. Tuani appeared to make some nice adjustments with her footwork and head movement during this round. Cruz had a nice moment landing a left hook to the body. At the sound of the clapper, signaling 10 seconds left in the round, Cruz appeared to be confused and stopped briefly while looking at the referee. Tuani capitalized by landing a good right hand.
In Round 3, Tuani began to work her hooks and uppercut to good effect. Both women appeared to be content to largely contest the fight on the inside, as with the previous rounds. This was another close round, but Tuani once more appeared to rate the slight edge.
Round 4 opened with a flurry of activity from both women. Cruz landed a nice straight right hand during the exchange. After backing up and creating some distance Tuani landed perhaps the best combination of the fight, starting with an overhand right and following with a left hook. After a brief pause, Tuani then landed a clean straight right hand as she appeared to be taking control of the fight. Cruz did some nice bodywork later in the round, but Tuani answered with two clean right hooks. Both women displayed incredible toughness and warrior spirit at they once more engaged in a fast paced furry during the last ten seconds of the fight.
The spectators gave both women a standing ovation at the end of this crowd-pleasing fight. Tuani earned the unanimous decision victory by scores of 39-37, 40-36, and 39-37.