Fresh off of becoming WBA super lightweight world champion in March, Isaac “Pitbull” Cruz looks to record his first title defense when he clashes with a game Jose Valenzuela this weekend, live on DAZN .

With this being a pivotal world title matchup on the Terence Crawford-Israil Madrimov main card, stakes are ultra high.

Here, DAZN presents the keys to victory for both fighters.

Isaac “Pitbull” Cruz’s keys to victory

Drown Valenzuela out with unrelenting volume

Watch Isaac “Pitbull” Cruz in action and his strategy is simple: From the moment that bell rings, he’s going to be a rabid dog off the leash, walking his opponent down and launching an arsenal of high-volume power punches.

It’s exactly what Cruz did in Round 1 against Rolando Romero this past March, wobbling him in the opening frame toward eventually disposing him via an eighth-round TKO to become the new WBA super lightweight world champion.

It’s what he’s going to aim to do against Jose Valenzuela as well and “Pitbull” isn’t going to hide it. A barrage of punches from a truly action-packed, forward-fighting dynamo is now downloading …

Have more movement on defense to get inside

Standing five-foot-four, Cruz often puts his gloves up in front of his face with a high tight guard, while moving forward against a taller opponent.

In doing so, he could find some success in walking Valenzuela down, but that kind of guard can leave him vulnerable to a whipping left hook around it if “Pitbull” is careless.

So if he’s going to resort to that kind of guard while fighting forward again, he’s got to show some lateral movement with his hips to at least keep Valenzuela guessing. That, and it will help him close the gap on a taller fighter who owns a seven-inch reach advantage.

If he doesn’t combine that guard with lateral movement, the wiry Valenzuela could sit back and make it target practice to impede Cruz’s progress.

Pound body as a means to launch power shots upstairs

With Valenzuela towering above “Pitbull,” standing five-foot-10 to Cruz’s five-foot-four, the challenger’s body should be open for the champ to pound away.

The more “Pitbull” lands those crunching shots to the body, the more Valenzuela might lower his guard to his chest — something he did quite a bit in his rematch against Chris Colbert in December.

If “Pitbull” can assert the body attack early, it could pave the way for him to land something massive upstairs, whether that comes via a lunging right hook or a devastating uppercut.

Jose Valenzuela’s keys to victory

Assert power jab to keep “Pitbull” on a leash

As aforementioned, the second the bell rings, “Pitbull” is going to be punching and aggressively moving forward.

Valenzuela can look to hinder that forward movement by asserting a power jab from the outside with his seven-inch reach advantage.

Doing so consistently could keep “Pitbull” on a leash enough for Valenzuela to have a chance at the upset.

Wrap left hook around the guard

If Cruz is going to walk Valenzuela down with gloves shielding his face, the challenger has a ripe opportunity to blast the champ with a whiplashing left hook to the temple.

If he times it accurately, especially on a counterpunch, the blow could land cleanly and do major damage to “Pitbull.”

Keep guard high and tight

Valenzuela cannot afford to lower his guard to his chest or have any glaring lapse in his defense against a power puncher like “Pitbull” who is absolutely relentless with his smothering style.

Keeping that guard high and tight while working from the outside could pay dividends for the challenger looking to pull the upset win and walk away as the new WBA super lightweight champion of the world.