Matchroom overwhelmed Top Rank with money in Thursday’s purse bid, winning the bid for the Raymond Muratalla vs. Andy Cruz fight.
Cruz’s Fast Track To Gold
Promoter Eddie Hearn was in a celebratory mood afterward, gleeful about fast-tracking his fighter, Cuban 2020 Olympic gold medalist, Andy Cruz (6-0, 3 KOs), to a world title shot after only six fights as a pro since signing him in 2023.
Today’s Cruz vs. Raymond Muratalla purse bid results
- Matchroom’s Winning Bid: $888,888
- Top Rank’s Bid: $550,000
The mandatory deadline for the Top Rank-promoted Muratalla (23-0, 17 KOs) to defend against Andy Cruz is December 5, 2025. However, Hearn wants the fight to take place in January 2026. Either way works.
Muratalla Misses His Moment
Muratala, 28, missed out on his opportunity to fight Cruz on the November 22nd card next month in Riyadh when he failed to agree to a financial deal. In hindsight, he may have made a mistake by not taking the fight on Turki Alalshikh to fight in his event. Hearn thinks Team Muratalla made a mistake.
“We had a great financial opportunity to do the fight on the November 22 card, but Muratalla couldn’t agree to a deal,” said Hearn.
It would be interesting to know how Muratalla feels about the $888,888 that is going to be split between him and Cruz from today’s purse bid. Does he have regrets now that he didn’t agree to the deal that Turki was offering to fight Cruz on his November 22nd card?
Eddie Hearn’s Victory Lap
“Andy Cruz’s next fight will be 100% for a world title. So, we’ve done our job,” said promoter Eddie Hearn to Matchroom Boxing about him winning Thursday’s purse bid for Andy Cruz’s fight against IBF lightweight champion Raymond Muratalla.
“We’ve brought him through perfectly well. He’s done amazing. And you talk about limited fights. There’s another one. I mean, he’d had a handful of fights, really. But he’s ready. He’s ready to fight for the world title. And it’ll be a massive moment for him when he challenges a very good in Muratalla. It’s a very dangerous fight, but it’s a great one,” said Hearn.