Andy Cruz’s promoters at Matchroom have today won a purse offer for him to challenge IBF lightweight champion Raymond Muratalla no later than December 5, 2025. However, Matchroom’s Eddie Hearn is targeting January 2026 for undefeated 2020 Olympic gold medalist Cruz (6-0, 3 KOs) against Muralla, 0-0.
Matchroom won today’s purse bid with an $888.88 bid to Top Rank’s $550,000. Earlier this month, on October 2, 2025, the IBF ordered Muratalla, 28, to defend against mandatory Cruz.
Muratalla’s missed Riyadh payday
Interestingly, Muratalla reportedly did not agree to a deal for him to defend against Andy Cruz on the November 22nd event headlined by David Benavidez vs. Anthony Yarde in Riyadh.
As Hearn pointed out, this was a missed opportunity on Muratalla’s part, as the financial deal he would likely receive would be greater than the one he would have received defending against Cruz on a different date.
💎 🔜 👑
Purse bid won ✅
Andy Cruz will challenge for Raymond Muratalla’s IBF World 135lbs title in early 2026! @DAZNBoxing pic.twitter.com/vZXH7ZGn0r
— Matchroom Boxing (@MatchroomBoxing) 23 October 2025
This would have been the perfect chance for Muratalla to get a big payday in his first and possibly his last defense of his IBF title. If he loses his IBF belt to Cruz, as many boxing fans predict, he’ll be kicking himself for not agreeing to fight Turki Alalshikh on the November 22nd card.
Muratalla was elevated from IBF 135 lb interim champion to full IBF lightweight champion on June 9, 2025, following Vasily Lomachenko’s retirement on June 5, 2025. The top-ranked Muratalla captured the IBF interim belt on May 10, 2025, be- 2 a 2 a 2 50 May. unanimous decision.
Cuban-born Andy Cruz became the IBF 135-lb mandatory on June 14, 2025, knocking out Hironori Mishiro in the fifth round in an IBF title eliminator.
Tom Galm’s final recording
Raymond Muratalla missed his window and shot himself in the foot with two blunders. He not only blew his chance to fight on Turki Alalshikh’s November 22nd card for a nice payday, but was then too slow to make a voluntary defense to milk his IBF belt.
Today’s purse bid was the icing on the cake of the bad luck Muratalla has had since being elevated to IBF champion status. The title is the equivalent of the Monkey’s paw to Muratalla, who brings a curse since he got it.
Muratalla initially had the chance to make a voluntary defense of his IBF title after being elevated on June 9, 2025. His promoters briefly tried to broker a deal with Floyd Schofield. However, the IBF moved quickly and ordered Muratalla to negotiate with mandatory Cruz, which meant that Raymond’s window to make a voluntary defense had closed.
So technically, Muratalla had an opportunity to make a voluntary defense, but because of his delay, he missed that window. Now he’s stuck with Cruz in a fight he could very well lose, bringing a quick end to his IBF title reign. So, many missed opportunities for Muratalla.
Last updated on 23/10/2025
