MORENO VALLEY, California – Raymond Muratalla has spent a lifetime watching his parents grind away at raising and supporting their family with no favors given; no special treatment expected.
That’s why when questions are raised about Muratalla’s inspired rise to becoming IBF lightweight champion and now moving toward his first title defense, the expected answers are flipped on their head.
What kind of celebration was there when Muratalla, of Fontana, California, learned that three-division champion Vasiliy Lomachenko was retiring at age 37 in June and thus anointing Muratalla as his successor?
“I think (trainer-manager) Robert Garcia called me. I was just with my family,” Muratalla said.
His longtime ambition fulfilled by that phone call, Muratalla, 28, said if he remembers correctly, he went out for pizza with his family to mark the occasion.
His teammates at Garcia’s boxing academy barely mentioned it to him.
“I don’t need a party, I don’t need a celebration,” Muratalla, 23-0 (17KOs), said. “I’m good, man.”
In a similar vein came his reaction to confronting the gifted Andy Cruz in his first title defense January 24 in Las Vegas.
There was no entitlement from the new, unbeaten champion, no protection from a promoter in Top Rank capable of pulling the strings to find an easier test.
“I’m just excited. I’ve always wanted these big fights,” Muratalla said. “I’ve always looked forward to these emotions happening. I can’t wait.”
Cruz is the 2021 Olympic gold medalist and now an undefeated mandatory top-ranked contender. Muratalla anticipates stepping right into that fire.
“Absolutely. Great opponent, great background. These are the kinds of fights we want. We want to make the fans proud, excited and happy,” he said.
Cuba’s Cruz, 6-0 (3 KOs), has elevated from his position as gold medalist, when he defeated former lightweight champion Keyshawn Davis in the finale, by performing strongly in victories this year versus Omar Salcido and Hironori Mishiro.
The 30-year-old Cruz stepped out of the ring versus Salcido in January to be greeted by both Davis and Stevenson, who have since left the division with their next bouts coming at 140lbs.
“Don’t matter to me,” Muratalla said of the industry respect for Cruz. “I don’t care who he is, what he’s been through. When we get in the ring, I’m putting the work in. I’m feeling good.”
That attitude is rooted in the same atmosphere that brought Muratalla up in the blue-collar household — the son of an air-conditioning maintenance father and a probation-officer mother.
Believing in the pride of rising each morning for the day’s tasks and staying devout to the idea no one can outwork you often are the greatest assets behind manifesting dreams into reality.
“I know my experience, all the work I’ve put in,” Muratalla said. “The mindset is everything. That’s going to be the key factor.
“I’ve seen a few of [Cruz’s] fights. He’s good. He has a good boxing style. But I’m here to win and all that [about him] is going to be out the window when we’re in the ring. Whoever’s in front of me, I’m here to take out.”
It would be a special occasion to win his belt inside the ring, to declare that a new champion has arrived, even if all he needs afterward is a pepperoni pie.
With Stevenson likely vacating the WBC lightweight belt next year and Muratalla’s Top Rank stablemate Abdullah Mason, 21, replacing Davis as WBO titlist Saturday night, Muratalla said he’s driven by the idea of igniting a 2026 fighter-of-the-year campaign by defeating Cruz and going after those other belts.
“This means a lot. I take this very seriously and that usually sets me apart in the fights,” he said.
Not needing the fanfare and finding special treatment useless is defining.
“It don’t matter to me,” Muratalla said.
“I’m in too deep already.”
Lance Pugmire is BoxingScene’s senior U.S. writer and an assistant producer for ProBox TV. Pugmire has covered boxing since the early 2000s, first at the Los Angeles Times and then at The Athletic and USA Today. He won the Boxing Writers’ Association of America’s Nat Fleischer Award in 2022 for career excellence.
