Andy Cruz’s first major title fight will carry an officiating panel foreign to his pro career.
Veteran referee Harvey Dock will serve as third man in the ring for Saturday’s DAZN headliner which will see Cuba’s Cruz challenge IBF lightweight titlist Raymond Muratalla. Also assigned to the bout are judges Tim Cheatham, Max DeLuca and Steve Weisfeld.
All four officials were selected by Nevada State Athletic Commission executive director Jeff Mullens and approved unanimously by the panel during the monthly agenda hearing Tuesday. The selection process was made ahead of the show this Saturday from Fontainebleau Las Vegas.
Dock, who will earn $2,700 for his in-ring assignment, has vast experience in major title fights. However, it will mark his first assignment involving either Muratalla, 23-0 (17 KOs) or Cruz, 6-0 (3 KOs).
None of the three judges – all veterans of the game and who will earn $2,000 each on Saturday – have ever worked a fight involving Cruz. All three have been assigned to Muratalla’s past fights. Judge Weisfeld was one of the three ringside officials who unanimously scored in favor of Muratalla over Zaur Abdullaev in their WBC interim lightweight title fight last May 10 in San Diego, California.
It marked one of four times where Weisfeld was a ringside scorer for a Muratalla fight. Prior to the abovementioned contest, he was joined by judge Cheatham (and David Sutherland) in awarding Muratalla a close but unanimous decision victory over Tevin Farmer at Palms Casino in Las Vegas.
Muratalla’s 11th through 14th pro fights all included DeLuca among the three judges; none of the four went to the scorecards.
Judge Cheatham has served as ringside score for three prior Muratalla contests. The win over Farmer was the only Muratalla outing involving Cheatham that went the distance. The other occasions were knockout victories over Jeremia Nakathila and Miguel Contreras.
Muratalla – who hails from Fontana, California - will attempt the first defense of his IBF lightweight title. He was upgraded from interim beltholder last June, upon the retirement of reigning full titlist – and three-division title claimant – Vasiliy Lomachenko.
Cruz aims for a title win in just his 7th pro fight. The 2020 Olympic Gold medalist for Cuba – now based in Miami but who trains in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania – will fight in Vegas for just the second time. It will come exactly 52 weeks from his prior outing, a 10-round, unanimous decision victory over Omar Salcido last January 25 at The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas.
