Bozy Ennis Sees Andy Cruz Handling Raymond Muratalla

Andy Cruz’s IBF lightweight title shot against Raymond Muratalla on January 24 goes beyond a technical clash — it’s the first time Cruz’s Olympic polish meets a world-level grinder built to drown opponents. For three camps, Cruz has danced. This time, he’s being told to sit still and fight.

Trainer Bozy Ennis explained that Cruz “hasn’t been rebuilt, just adjusted.” The Cuban’s footwork-heavy rhythm — dazzling at first, draining by round eight — is being tempered with harder bases and shorter pivots. “He’s conserving energy, responding directly in exchanges,” Ennis said in a YouTube interview, adding that Cruz has been pushed to “move less and sit down on punches” instead of circling endlessly. The shift isn’t cosmetic; it’s survival strategy.

Muratalla, 19-0 with 16 knockouts, presses from the opening bell. His punch count rarely dips, his feet keep him squared and close, and his strength breaks fighters who spar to coast. He’s less technician than constructor — builds pressure brick by brick until space disappears. Against him, excess movement just burns oxygen.

Cruz, 29, arrived in the pros with Olympic gold and the usual “next Lomachenko” chatter, but his résumé — Antonio Moran, Omar Salcido, Hironori Mishiro — has yet to justify the buzz. Muratalla changes that. It’s his first fight against an active world champion, and his first chance to prove his defensive reads and counter-punch layers can hold when a larger man keeps walking.

For Muratalla, it’s about proving depth in his pressure. He’s beaten volume movers before but not a pure technician with Cruz’s head control and punch placement. This fight exposes whether his ring cutting holds when the target fires back precisely.

If Cruz’s adjustment sticks, the exchanges could narrow to skill versus grind: one man gambling on discipline, the other on erosion. The reward is obvious — an IBF belt, leverage for the winner in a loaded 135 field, and entry into the discussions that have ignored Cruz since 2021.