The Raymond Muratalla-Andy Cruz lightweight title bout at Fontainebleau Las Vegas is a cancel-your-Saturday-plans type of fight.
(Please suspend disbelief and go along with the theoretical concept of me actually having Saturday plans.)
Muratalla vs. Cruz is just about everything we crave in a boxing matchup. They’re both undefeated as pros, they’re both in their physical primes, the clash of styles is compelling, the chance of a mismatch is minimal, both men have knockout power and both men have shown they can get hit and hurt.
We let boxing mistreat and abuse us because of the promise of nights like this — a fight that is happening at the right time and the outcome of which tells us something about the hierarchy atop the weight class while setting a path forward for additional first-class fights.
This is by no means a superfight — neither Cruz nor Muratalla is at the level of star power or accomplishment to be part of a bout with such a designation. But it’s just a damned good title fight. It’s a fight you make plans to watch live and unspoiled if you’re a real fan of this sport.
Except to a certain extent you can’t watch it unspoiled no matter when you see it.
Because I’m going to spoil it for you now: Cruz’s hand will be raised at the end. Muratalla can’t win.
I did a little tape study this week in search of a column angle, and as I assessed both boxers’ strengths and weaknesses and jotted down notes, with each round I watched, with each comparison I drew between the two men, it became abundantly clear what the outcome has to be, and in turn what my angle had to be.
As hard-fought and competitive as this contest is likely to be, we know going in that Bruce Willis is [spoiler redacted], that Vader is Luke’s [spoiler redacted], that soylent green is made out of [spoiler redacted]. It’s a hell of a fight, but BoxRec can go ahead and update their records now and list Cruz at 7-0 and Muratalla at 23-1.
Why am I so certain of that? Well, I’ll break it down in some detail as I call upon those tape-study notes, but the top-line is that Cruz, the 2021 Olympic gold medalist and three-time world amateur champion, brings rare skills and talents to the table, whereas Muratalla is someone Eleanor Shellstrop would point at and say, “Ya basic.”
The 29-year-old Muratalla is a fine boxer. He’s a fairly heavy puncher, with 17 KOs among his 23 wins. He’s reasonably versatile. But all the things he does are things we’ve seen thousands of boxers before him do. He’s a quarterback who makes the throws you need him to make and won’t lose the game for you. He’s Matt Hasselbeck.
Cruz is, relatively speaking, Patrick Mahomes. That’s not to say he’s going to be the best fighter or his generation or enter the GOAT conversation, but his capabilities are unique. There are “one-of-one” elements to how the 30-year-old Cuban fights.
And after absorbing all the footage of their past fights, I just don’t see how someone so unusual can lose to someone so, well, usual.
Especially because pretty much everything Muratalla can do, Cruz can do better. I’m not even convinced Muratalla is the heavier-handed puncher, which is one of the one two boxes most observers would instinctively tick off on his side of the ledger (the other being pro experience).
The biggest differentiator that I expect to see on display after the bell rings is in speed in pulling the trigger. Cruz has those instantaneous reflexes, that ability to unleash a punch faster than most people’s brains can process the mere thought of wanting to throw a punch. Muratalla keeps his weapons in holsters. He can get ‘em out when he needs to, he’s no faster or slower than the average guy. He’s a podcast playing at the prescribed 1x speed.
But Cruz is at 1.5x and thinking about giving 2x a shot.
Cruz is also decidedly shiftier with his legs and his upper-body movements. There’s a hyper-athleticism to both the way he punches and the way he fills the spaces in between punches. With Muratalla, there’s an athleticism, but no “hyper” upgrade.
Both men seem most comfortable counterpunching, which raises the question of who will lead on Saturday night. Cruz, however, has a massive advantage in that he can lead with the jab without putting himself at any real risk. His footwork is such that he’s mastered the ability to throw that left jab and get into range to land it but be stepping out of range all in the same motion. It’s almost reminiscent of the first time you watched Michael Jackson moonwalk and struggled to comprehend whether he was moving backward or the whole world was somehow sliding forward beneath his feet.
In theory, Muratalla can counter Cruz’ jab with a left hook — but it’s going to take pinpoint timing, bordering on impossibly pinpoint timing, as long as Cruz remains disciplined.
In general, Muratalla, along with trainer Robert Garcia in devising a game plan, faces the challenge of determining how patient to be. Not that Muratalla is a particularly high volume puncher (he threw 44 punches per round in his last fight over 12 against Zaur Abdullaev and 48 a round over 10 against Tevin Farmer), but there’s a case to be made that he can win rounds by outworking Cruz. The better strategic case, though, is for him to pick his spots. Again, countering is often his default. He just can’t be so patient, so intent on finding the dream opening while worrying that whatever comes back at him will come back faster, that he isn’t producing appreciable offense.
Muratalla, meanwhile, has much more obvious defensive shortcomings for Cruz to take advantage of.
He sometimes pulls straight back with his arms extended — an invitation for a quick-fisted, crafty, instinctive boxer like Cruz to crash home wider, looping punches.
He sometimes puts too much of his weight on his front foot as he circles, leaving him open for a snappy jab.
He sometimes tries the shoulder roll defense, a technique only a handful of fighters in history have been able to pull off. You need to either be elite or be up against someone far from elite for the shoulder roll to work. Neither part of that equation is tilting in Muratalla’s favor in the Cruz fight.
Cruz, who trains with Bozy Ennis in Philadelphia, has turned himself into a defensive mutt in the best way, blending Cuban and Philly influences to form a unique style.
But that’s not to say he’s untouchable. Yes, throughout his CompuBox-tracked career, Cruz has outlanded his opponents by a 4-to-1 ratio. But it’s 4-to-1, not 4-to-0. And there’s no denying he got rocked by an Antonio Moran left hand in the fourth round in August 2024.
Notably, however, that punch did nothing to suggest Cruz has a faulty chin. It landed on his right ear and threw off his equilibrium. Those punches still count, of course, but there’s a flukier element to their impact than a shot that rattles the jaw.
Muratalla’s best moment in probably his most meaningful win, a narrow but deserved decision over a Farmer who’d lost only once in 11 years leading up to that, came when he landed a sensational right hand in the 10th round. But that came about because Farmer — usually defensively responsible — paused and posed inside. It’s the kind of mistake I don’t see Cruz making.
And I’ve barely written a word yet about Cruz’s offense and power punches. He goes to the body with both hands. His left uppercut has emerged as a weapon. He’s shown thudding right-hand power in recent fights, particularly last time out against Hironori Mishiro — who, admittedly, was nowhere near Cruz’s level and probably nowhere near Muratalla’s either — to the point that I wouldn’t be surprised if the better boxer in this matchup is the bigger puncher too.
For all my gushing about Cruz — who, ohbytheway, went 4-0 against Keyshawn Davis in the amateurs, one of those wins clinching Olympic gold — I’ll remind you that I wrote at the top of this column that I believe there’s very little chance of a mismatch here. Muratalla is Cruz’s best opponent to date and is almost certain to keep it competitive, to have moments, to find ways to make Cruz uncomfortable.
If it goes 12 rounds, Muratalla will probably even win a few of them.
I just don’t see how he wins the fight. Even given the reality that any man who balls up his fists and throws punches has a chance at putting the other in standby mode.
This is an outstanding fight that DAZN will be airing Saturday night, and it’s perhaps flying under the radar a bit. It’s being overshadowed by an even better and much bigger fight one week later between Shakur Stevenson and Teofimo Lopez, by the more publicized debut of Zuffa Boxing on Paramount+ one night prior to Muratalla-Cruz and by the nonstop onslaught of news lately surrounding fights, fighters, promoters, legislative acts and so on.
But this is a first-rate fight, a “toughest test to date” in both directions, that is worth watching live on Saturday.
Every second I’ve spent on YouTube in advance of it tells me what the destination is here. But you can still count me in for the journey.
It’s like watching The Sixth Sense after you know Bruce Willis is [spoiler redacted]. There’s still plenty to keep an eye out for even if the suspense has been … well, dead the whole time.
Eric Raskin is a veteran boxing journalist with nearly 30 years of experience covering the sport for such outlets as BoxingScene, ESPN, Grantland, Playboy, and The Ring (where he served as managing editor for seven years). He also co-hosted The HBO Boxing Podcast, Showtime Boxing with Raskin & Mulvaney, The Interim Champion Boxing Podcast with Raskin & Mulvaney, and Ring Theory. He has won three first-place writing awards from the BWAA, for his work with The Ring, Grantland, and HBO. Outside boxing, he is the senior editor of CasinoReports and the author of 2014’s The Moneymaker Effect. He can be reached on X, BlueSky, or LinkedIn, or via email at RaskinBoxing@yahoo.com.
