Raymond Muratalla faces Zaur Abdullaev on May 10 at Pechanga Arena in San Diego, CA. The pair battle it out for the interim IBF lightweight title. The 12-round contest serves as the co-feature to Emanuel Navarrete vs Charly Suarez.
Unbeaten Muratalla (22-0, 17 KOs) looks to get through his next fight and position himself to call out for big fights. West Covina’s 28-year-old is confident in his victory, saying he has skills his next opponent has yet to see.
Muratalla is opposed by 31-year-old Abdullaev (20-1, 12 KOs), who targets his 10th win in a row. The once-beaten contender suffered his first career defeat via fourth-round RTD against Devin Haney in September 2019, in his bid to claim the interim WBC 135-pound title.
“This is a huge opportunity for me, my family, and my team,” Raymond Muratalla said following a recent training session at Robert Garcia Boxing Academy in Oxnard, CA. “This is exciting and motivating because it gets me one step closer to even bigger fights.”
“I want to get these big fights that everyone wants to see. My main goal is to get past Zaur Abdullaev, so I can start calling out for these big fights everyone wants to see. But I’m not looking past him. I know this will be a tough one.”
“Zaur Abdullaev has improved a lot as a fighter. He’s gotten better since the Devin Haney fight. That was a few years ago, and now he’s on a winning streak.”
“I know he’s coming to fight. And he’s not just here to fight, he’s here to win. And I’m on the same page. So, it’s going to be a good one. I can’t wait.”
“He comes forward with a high guard. He’s strong, but I think he’s a little too slow for me. I have too many skills and different things he hasn’t seen yet. At the same time, I feel there are a lot of skills that I haven’t even shown yet.”
“I’m ready to go. This is something that all fighters dream of. I’ve put in all the work to get here. And I’m ready to show out on May 10.”
Atop the fight card, Mexico’s three-division champion Navarrete (39-2-1, 32 KOs) makes the fourth defense of his WBO super featherweight title against Charly Suarez (17-0, 9 KOs) of the Philippines. Among the undercard bouts, Las Vegas native Andres Cortes (22-0, 12 KOs) takes on Spain’s Salvador Jimenez (14-1-1, 6 KOs) at junior lightweight.