The other two scores were 114 114 and 116 112. The first one was more in the ballpark of the fight that took place inside the ring. Muratalla ate too many jabs and missed too often for him to win 8 to 4 or 10 to 2. Those scores were from outer space and had no logical place in the score for the fight.
ComputBox Punch Sats
- Raymond Muratalla landed 175 of 611 punches (29% connection rate).
- Andy Cruz struck out 176 of 537 batters thrown (33% connection rate).
“I thought Muratalla did just enough to improve it. I thought he won the 12th, and I thought 7 to 5 for me. It was a very close fight,” said promoter Eddie Hearn. Box Socialreacting to Raymond Muratalla’s win over Andy Cruz.
It’s a little surprising that Hearn is ditching his fighter, Cruz, because normally promoters stick with their guys, especially with close fights. Muratalla was more aggressive in the 12th round, but it was Cruz who landed the shots. The only thing Muratalla did was step forward.
“Muratalla impressed me tonight. I thought he looked very strong, very big with the weight,” Hearn said. “There were a lot of close rounds, but maybe a little consistency and pressure and a little more output from him. That hurt the fight,” Hearn said.
The punch output was essentially even, with Cruz landing one more punch than Muratalla. So, when Hearn says the “output” is what won the fight for Muratalla, he’s off.
“What he might be talking about is the power advantage that Raymond showed. His shots clearly looked stronger. Part of that had to do with how big he was compared to Cruz. The two fighters looked a split from each other,” Hearn said.
The size advantage Muratalla had over Andy played into him having more power. Cruz looked like a super featherweight fighting a light welterweight tonight. He didn’t look like he belonged in the same ring with Muratalla in terms of size.
“When I heard that card, I thought, ‘I know they’re not giving that one to Andy,'” Hearn said of the judge who scored it 118,110 for Muratalla. “My opinion was, Muratalla had a very close fight. It was Andy’s sixth fight. Maybe he lacked a little bit of championship experience.
Hearn’s comment about knowing the wide score was for Muratalla is similar to how I felt. When I heard the score read, I just knew it was for Muratalla.
“Muratalla is 23 and 0. I thought he did very well tonight. He just needs to bounce back against a top contender. His stock has gone up,” Hearn said of Cruz.
If Hearn is going to play Cruz next against a contender, he needs to convince him to get another trainer so he can work on his lack of aggression. Derek ‘Bozy’ Ennis told Cruz to throw more, but he didn’t listen.
