IBF lightweight world champion Raymond Muratalla wins a high-class title fight against Olympic champion Andy Cruz by majority decision.
Raymond Muratalla remains unbeaten and is still IBF World Lightweight Champion. The US-American won a majority decision against Cuban Olympic champion Andy Cruz on Saturday evening at the Fontainebleau Las Vegas in a matchroom event organized by Eddie Hearn.
In a title fight that many experts considered to be extremely close, the judges’ verdicts were very different. The scorecards read 118-110, 114-114 and 116-112 in favor of Muratalla (24-0, 17 knockouts), who thus successfully completed his first title defense. The 27-year-old was promoted from interim to regular IBF champion last year following his victory over Zaur Abdullaev.
Cruz (6-1, 3 knockouts), Olympic champion in Tokyo 2020 (held in 2021), was only in the ring for the seventh time as a professional, but delivered a high-class exchange of punches over twelve rounds against the champion. Both boxers worked with a high frequency of punches, which made the fight a real nail-biter for the judges.
Muratalla consistently looked to move forward and tried to dictate the fight, while Cruz repeatedly used his quick footwork and sharp counter-attacks to deliver pinpricks. The fight remained open until the final round – a duel in which one could certainly make a case for the challenger’s victory.
“He wanted to counter me, but I didn’t give him any room to do so,” said Muratalla in the DAZN interview after the fight. “I proved that I deserve this title.” Cruz was confident despite the defeat: “I always want to show more, but I thought I did enough to win the fight.”