The news of Vasiliy Lomachenko’s retirement took many boxing experts by surprise just over a week ago. The 37-year-old Ukrainian hung up his gloves and closed a spectacular book of success, which includes an impressive record of 396 wins and only one loss as an amateur, as well as his professional reign in three different divisions.
As soon as the news was confirmed, names immediately began to emerge to take his International Boxing Federation (IBF) lightweight throne and, just four days later, the organization promoted American Raymond Muratalla as interim champion.
The northerner has not lost any fight in 23 appearances, 17 of them by knockout. His last victory came on May 10, when he dethroned Russia’s Zaur Abdullaev by unanimous decision. However, his next outing (yet to be defined) will be much more demanding, because he will have to defend the belt.
Muratalla gets a challenger
Just 10 days after being named the IBF interim 135-pound champion, Raymond Muratalla already has a clear challenger for the crown. It is the Cuban Andy Cruz, who last Saturday conquered Madison Square Garden in New York with an impressive demonstration against Japan’s Hironori Mishiro.
Olympic champion at Tokyo 2020 and triple amateur world champion, Cruz has burst into the professional ranks after being expelled from the Cuban national team in 2022 and spending months in ostracism, not fighting until he escaped from the Caribbean island in early 2023
From there, his career has been on a steady upward trajectory, with six emphatic victories as a professional, the last of which was a resounding knockout against Japan’s Mishiro. The Asian fighter was unable to make use of his greater experience and succumbed to the drive and technical prowess of the pugilist born in the Matanzas town of Alacranes
Andy gave another great display of speed, power and accuracy in a fight he dominated from start to finish. His performance brought out the best of the Cuban school: the ability to move around the ring and dodge most of his opponent’s punches without sacrificing his punching power and explosiveness.
With this plan, he knocked Mishiro down twice in the third round as a result of electric combinations of swines and uppercuts telegraphed to the Japanese’s face, who made his best effort to stay on his feet, but by the fifth round he could not take it anymore
This victory puts Andy Cruz on the road to a virtual showdown against Raymond Muratalla for the IBF lightweight title, surely before the end of the year. For the Cuban, it is a giant step in his aspirations to win a world crown
“This is one more step, one more step to achieve my main goal, which is to be world champion,” Cruz said in the ring at Madison Square Garden. “From the beginning I said that I was born ready for these moments, my first function was to win this fight and now I’m ready for the challenge that comes. Keyshawn, learn from daddy.”
His last words have a very clear recipient, the northern Keyshawn Davis, active champion of the World Boxing Organization (WBO) since last February, when he defeated the Ukrainian Denys Berinchyk
Cruz and Keyshawn’s rivalry goes back a long way, as the Cuban defeated him four times in amateur tournaments, including the Tokyo Olympics and the 2019 World Championships in Ekaterinburg. If both maintain their winning ways, it would not be unreasonable to think of a head-to-head duel sooner rather than later, although Andy will first have to establish himself as IBF champion
If the Cuban takes the throne that Lomachenko’s retirement served Muratalla on a silver platter, then he will be able to look at Davis and Shakur Stevenson, the other two great figures in the lightweight division today.
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