Cris Esqueda / Matchroom BoxingLOS ANGELES – Raymond Muratalla is not getting a homecoming fight, is deprived of top billing and is assigned a second consecutive Olympic gold medalist.
Yet, Muratalla knows exactly what this is.
Nothing is gifted in boxing, promises can get reversed and even victory can hurt like hell.
Thus, IBF lightweight champion Muratalla, 29-0 (17 KOs), will report for duty versus Brazil’s 2016 gold medalist and former super-featherweight world champion Robson Conceicao August 1 on the TNT/DAZN card headlined by the WBC lightweight bout between Lamont Roach Jnr and William Zepeda at Virgin Hotels and Resort in Las Vegas.
“I love to fight. I’m here to fight. Wherever it is, that’s just me – glad to be a part of this,” Muratalla, 29, told BoxingScene Tuesday at the introductory news conference for the card staged at Golden Boy Promotions’ headquarters.
Zepeda promoter Golden Boy is promoting the card, not Muratalla’s promoter, Top Rank, which was earlier working toward an August 8 homecoming main event in nearby Ontario, California, for the champion following his tightly contested January victory over 2021 Olympic gold medalist Andy Cruz of Cuba.
Instead, Top Rank loaned Muratalla to the card that will be both streamed on DAZN and shown on TNT, giving the Fontana, California, fighter his greatest exposure yet.
“I didn’t get the hometown [fight] I wanted. That would’ve been perfect, but I love fighting in Vegas, and everyone loves to travel out to Vegas,” Muratalla said. “It’s good for me to gain a greater audience, a bigger fan base, and I’m looking forward to it.”
One prominent boxing official told BoxingScene Tuesday that it’s not a given that the two lightweight champions who emerge from the August 1 bouts will fight each other next.
Muratalla said he feels good at 135lbs, but could also be swayed to pursue bigger fights – perhaps against 140lbs and four-division champion Shakur Stevenson – in the near future.
“Eventually, [I’ll go up in weight]. Right now, I’m comfortable here at 135lbs and we’ll see where it goes,” he said.
Part of that is to improve upon the gritty and skilled showing he produced in impressively defeating Cruz.
“It was a good performance. I did what I needed to do to win. With more fights to come, you’re going to see a lot more things,” Muratalla said. “You’ll see the real talent I have.”
He said the 37-year-old Conceicao, 21-3-1 (10 KOs), offers the key assets of experience and seeking action.
Winning requires Muratalla to “be myself, do what I do, have fun. Keeping that mindset, my mentality.”
