EDDIE HEARN’S Matchroom Boxing is well-equipped to win today’s purse bid for Raymond Muratalla vs Andy Cruz, especially while rival promoter Top Rank is still yet to land a broadcast deal.
The IBF world title fight at 135lbs was discussed as a possible option earlier this year, only for newly-crowned champion Muratalla, 23-0 (17 KOs), to embark on a brief hunting mission.
Initially, it seemed that the 28-year-old had planned to enter a voluntary defence, potentially against Floyd Schofield Jr, after being awarded his IBF lightweight title.
Prior to that, the American had produced a polished performance to comprehensively outpoint Zaur Abdullaev, who is now gearing up to face Adam Azim on November 15, for the sanctioning body’s ‘interim’ strap.
But with Vasyl Lomachenko later announcing his retirement and, in turn, forgoing his status as the IBF king, Muratalla was then promptly upgraded from ‘interim’ to full champion.
At this point, though, the opportunity to make a voluntary defence of his title has simply passed him by.
Instead, Muratalla’s next outing must be against mandatory challenger Cruz, 6-0 (3 KOs), who, despite not having the professional resume to support his position, is nonetheless widely considered to be a world-class operator.
The Olympic gold medallist earned his leading contender status with a fifth-round finish over Hironori Mishiro, a relatively little-known customer, in June, but is now set to enter by far his toughest test in the paid ranks.
Hoping to give him the best possible chance of dethroning Muratalla, though, is Matchroom Boxing CEO Frank Smith, with the promotional outfit expected to put its best foot forward at the purse bid hearing later today.
And with Muratalla’s promoter, Top Rank, still scratching around for a broadcast deal following its departure from ESPN, Matchroom certainly appears to find itself in a strong position.
“Andy Cruz’s dream is to become a world champion,” Smith told Boxing News yesterday. “We’ve been pushing to make that fight for a long time, and that is the fight you’ll see next for Andy Cruz.
“He’ll beat Muratalla, in my opinion, and then set himself up to be one of the biggest names in the division.
When asked whether he feels that Top Rank’s broadcast situation will hinder its chances of winning the bid, Smith was quick to avoid any speculation.
“Purse bids are purse bids – anyone can bid,” he reasoned. “That’s the fun and games of a purse bid, so we shall see what happens.
“But hopefully we do [win the bid]. We’ve been on a great journey with Andy Cruz, so hopefully we can continue that and promote his world title fight.”
