Raymond Muratalla: Andy Cruz Has Never Faced My Kind of Style

Raymond Muratalla has settled into the role of champion without much noise around him. He talks like someone who trusts his preparation and expects the work to carry him through. There is comfort in routine. There is also exposure in it. January brings him a challenger who does not move like the others he has shared the ring with.

Andy Cruz arrives with a short professional ledger and a long amateur shadow. That balance tends to make people impatient, sometimes the fighter himself. Six pro fights do not tell you much. They only tell you what has not happened yet.

Experience speaks, but it rarely settles anything

Muratalla has been clear about what he thinks separates him. “No, he hasn’t fought anyone at my level with my type of intelligence in the ring,” he said. That reads like confidence built over rounds, not highlights. He has lived twelve-round pacing. He has managed moments where timing fades and structure has to hold.

His toughest night so far came against Tevin Farmer in 2024, a fight that asked him to solve problems rather than impose pace. Farmer was older and slower than Cruz, but he understood spacing and patience. Muratalla did not coast through that fight. He had to work for it.

What Cruz chooses to give away

Cruz speaks carefully, even when he sounds assured. “Well, anything can happen in the ring. So, he’s prepared. I also believe the smartest and most prepared person in the ring always wins,” he told YSM Sports Media. Later he added, “He’s a strong fighter, but I don’t think he’s ready for what’s coming.”

Cruz is hardest to deal with when he stays committed to his defensive rhythm. When he drifts into exchanges, as he did against Antonio Moran in August 2024, he gives up time and reads that he does not need to surrender. That choice will shape this fight more than any pre-fight line.

Muratalla does his best work when opponents give him patterns. Cruz has lived on breaking them.

Odds, noise, and the weight of January

The betting line favors Cruz, and that always finds its way back to the champion. Muratalla hears it, even when he pretends not to. “None of them are me,” he said of Cruz’s previous opponents. “I think once he sees my style in the ring, it’s going to be completely different, and he’s going to feel that early on.”

Muratalla vs. Cruz are headlining on DAZN on January 24, 2026, at the Fontainebleau Las Vegas in Las Vegas, Nevada.