Raymond Muratalla successfully defended his world title tonight.
Raymond Muratalla took a majority decision win over Andy Cruz in very closely contested fight to retain his IBF world lightweight title, even closer than the official scores would make it seem. Cruz suffers his first professional loss and despite feeling he did enough to win, he didn’t make any excuses for the result.
Muratalla vs Cruz scorecards
The three official cards were 114-112, 118-110, and 116-112 to give Muratalla a majority decision win.
Unofficial Muratalla vs Cruz scorecard
BLH edged the fight to Muratalla, 115-113.
Muratalla vs Cruz post-fight analysis and comments
As close and competitive of a fight as you’ll ever see. From start to finish, a high level chess match played on both sides with contrasting styles, and both implementing their game plan. In a fight fought this close and tough there are just too many close rounds to have a clear verdict, but it seemed to me Muratalla wanted it more in the championship rounds and that made the difference on my card. And while a Muratalla win won’t be hotly disputed, the 118-110 scorecard will be hard for many to fathom.
Muratalla vs Cruz undercard results
Khalil Coe vs Jesse Hart
Not the most prettiest fight to watch, by any stretch of the imagination but it will draw plenty of groans as not only did Khalil Coe blow weight by an absurd amount, he also seemingly got a win he didn’t seem to deserve on official scores of 94-94, 95-93, and 96-92. BLH scored the fight 95-93 for Hart.
Jesse Hart got off to a fast start and outboxed Coe most of the fight, except for a stretch of the middle rounds where Hart got visibly tired. Coe’s frustration showed itself in the third round when he slammed Hart to the canvas, costing him a point. The point deduction would swing both ways, however, with Hard getting docked in the sixth for excessive holding.
With the fight seemingly in the balance in the last two rounds, where the fight appeared knotted up by most accounts, it was Hart who was the more active and lively fighter in the final two rounds, with Coe doing little to nothing in the final frame. Despite that, the judges’ cards were read aloud to audible boos in the crowd.
Israil Madrimov vs Luis David Salazar
Israil Madrimov won clean and clear on the scorecards tonight, but it wasn’t quite the performance he was hoping for against an opponent that was brought in to get knocked over and give Madrimov some real momentum after a long time out of the ring. Madrimov continues to deal with the after effects of pneumonia and acknowledged that he wasn’t coming into this fight in top condition, but he did get a win at the end of the night. Official scores were all 99-91 in his favor.
Omari Jones UD-6 Jerome Baxter
Omari Jones dominated a tough opponent in Jerome Baxter tonight, taking a unanimous decision after 6 rounds of action. Jones was the bigger and longer fighter who had more offensive firepower, repeatedly hurting Baxter throughout and dropping him in the first round, although he was never able to find the offense to put him away for good. At the end of the fight the three official judges turned in identical cards of 60-53.
Zaquin Moses UD-6 Leandro Medina
Super featherweight Zaquin Moses showcased his skill in a talent mismatch against Leandro Medina, scoring a unanimous decision win on three cards of 60-53 with a knockdown in the fourth. Anyone who watches Moses will see clear parallels to his older cousin Shakur Stevenson in terms of their style and body mechanics, but he claims to be a more offensive version. Moses was able to show off his fast hands and clearly does have a lot of good fundamentals, but there’s certainly room for improvement as he’s still only 20-years-old.
Category: General Sports
