When is Raymond Muratalla-Andy Cruz?
Raymond Muratalla-Andy Cruz is on Saturday, January 24. The broadcast will begin at 8 p.m. Eastern Time (1 p.m. GMT).
What channel is Raymond Muratalla-Andy Cruz on?
Raymond Muratalla-Andy Cruz will stream on DAZN.
Where is Raymond Muratalla-Andy Cruz?
The fight is taking place at Fontainebleau Las Vegas in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Who is Raymond Muratalla?
Raymond Muratalla, 23-0 (17 KOs), is the IBF lightweight titleholder. The 29-year-old from Fontana, California, is due to make his first defense – and on paper it is a tough one.
Muratalla turned pro in 2016 and developed into a contender on Top Rank broadcasts. In recent years he dispatched Jeremia Nakathila in two rounds, stopped previously unbeaten Diego Torres Nunez in eight, outpointed Xolisani Ndongeni, took a unanimous decision over Tevin Farmer, and made short work of the 25-5 Jesus Antonio Perez Campos.
That landed Muratalla an interim IBF title fight last May against Zaur Abdullaev. With primary titleholder Vasiliy Lomachenko on the shelf and expected to retire, the winner of Muratalla-Abdullaev was likely to get an upgrade. Muratalla won a wide decision; Lomachenko officially hung up his gloves less than a month later.
Muratalla didn’t fight again for the remainder of 2025, which may or may not be due to the end of Top Rank’s contract with ESPN. But the IBF ordered him to defend against Andy Cruz, who is with Matchroom Boxing, which runs its shows on DAZN. Matchroom won the purse bid and of course is hoping to add another world title within its fold. Muratalla, meanwhile, would be sending quite a message if he beats Cruz.
The lightweight division is in flux. It’s uncertain when Gervonta “Tank” Davis (until recently the WBA titleholder, for now the “champion in recess”) will return amid his legal troubles; he had already been speaking of taking a sabbatical before. Shakur Stevenson (WBC) is challenging junior welterweight champ Teofimo Lopez at the end of this month. Abdullah Mason (WBO) is also with Top Rank, which one imagines would prefer two titleholders at 135lbs rather than pairing them against each other to wind up with one. Several name contenders are in the wings. Andy Cruz has been among them…
Who is Andy Cruz?
Andy Cruz is a top lightweight who is just 6-0 (3 KOs) as a professional, but that’s because he arrived in the paid ranks after an excellent amateur career in which he won Olympic gold in 2021. Cruz defeated Keyshawn Davis by decision in the tournament finale.
The 30-year-old Cruz now lives in Miami, Florida, and has fought exclusively in the United States after signing with Matchroom Boxing and turning pro in 2023. Given his advanced age and skill level, Cruz has not wasted time against designated opponents but rather has gotten acclimated to pro boxing through bouts with measuring stick foes.
Cruz’s debut saw him go a full 10 rounds and win a decision against faded former featherweight title challenger Juan Carlos Burgos. In his fourth bout, Cruz won a seventh-round stoppage against the 30-6-1 Antonio Moran. Last year, Cruz widely outpointed the 20-1 Omar Salcido over 10 rounds in January and then defeated the 17-1-1 Hironori Mishiro via fifth-round TKO in June.
Although Cruz has spoken of continuing his amateur rivalry with Davis, that will have to wait now that Davis has outgrown 135lbs and moved up to 140.
What other fights are on the undercard of Raymond Muratalla-Andy Cruz?
The undercard includes a light heavyweight bout between Khalil Coe and Jesse Hart. Coe, 10-1-1 (8 KOs), last fought in May, when he avenged his 2024 TKO loss to Manuel Gallegos by stopping Gallegos in the sixth round. Hart, 31-3 (25 KOs), is a former super middleweight title challenger who gave Gilberto Ramirez hell. Hart’s last traditional boxing match was in April 2024, though he was active in the 2025 in the Team Combat League, going 16-3 in 19 one-round bouts on 10 dates.
Also on this show: former junior middleweight titleholder Israil Madrimov, 10-2-1 (7 KOs), returns from his back-to-back losses to Terence Crawford and Vergil Ortiz, by taking on Luis David Salazar, 20-1 (7 KOs); and Omari Jones, 4-0 (4 KOs), a junior middleweight prospect who won a bronze medal in the 2024 Olympics, will continue his development against Jerome Baxter, 7-0 (3 KOs).
The full list of undercard fights can be seen on BoxRec.
David Greisman, who has covered boxing since 2004, is on Twitter @FightingWords2. David’s book, “Fighting Words: The Heart and Heartbreak of Boxing,” is available on Amazon.
