Isaac Cruz didn’t expect a replica of his last fight but certainly didn’t expect the dull affair that came of his latest ring assignment.

The streaking lightweight contender managed to remain in the win column, following a 12-round unanimous decision win over unbeaten Matias Romero in their Showtime televised title eliminator Saturday evening at Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Connecticut. The feat left Cruz (21-1-1, 15KOs) as the mandatory challenger to the WBA lightweight title, though the bout left a bad taste with home viewers—and quite frankly with the winner himself.

“He didn’t come to win. He was a very, very dirty fighter who had no interest in fighting with me,” Cruz said after the win, which extends his current 16-fight unbeaten streak. “He was desperate. I’m not happy about the style of the fight but I am satisfied I took the victory home and we’ve come to the number-one spot in the WBA.

“I didn’t know what was going to happen [as far as the judges]. We forced the fight at all times and it would have been very impossible for the judges to do something to me when I was the one pushing the fight.”

Argentina’s Romero (24-1, 8KOs) accepted the fight on roughly five weeks’ notice, as a replacement for Spain’s Jon Fernandez who was unable to obtain a travel visa. It was enough time for Romero to get in a quality training camp in Miami, receiving quality sparring and not at all ill-prepared for his U.S. debut.

It somehow never translated in the ring. Romero boxed well at times but was too content with clinching whenever Cruz worked his way inside. He was warned several times by referee Harvey Dock and even by head trainer German Caicedo. The advice and threats never took, though working to his detriment as Cruz’s more telling punches proved to be the difference on the scorecards in the end.

“He was a fighter who didn’t want to exchange punches,” insisted Cruz. We initiated the fight. He didn’t give any show at all. “I was very fed up with the clinches – there was never a warning toward him. I did my best out there.

“Not the best way I wanted to do it but thank God we won the fight and we’re taking the victory home.

Jake Donovan is a senior writer for BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox