Raymond Muratalla (23-0, 17 KOs) fought a disciplined fight, focusing on throwing a stiff jab and single power shots to box his way to a 12-round unanimous decision win over the highly skilled contender Zaur Abdullaev (20-2, 12 KOs) to claim the interim IBF lightweight title on Saturday night in their co-feature bout at the Pechanga Arena in San Diego, California. The scoring was pretty bogus. The fight was a lot closer than the wide scores. It was terrible scoring, but it worked in the favor of the house fighter, Muraralla.
The Top Rank-promoted Muratalla, 28, was at his best in the early rounds when he was connecting with huge uppercuts and right hands down the middle on Abdullaev. As the fight wore on, Muratalla got lulled into a boxing match and fought Abduallev’s fight. He veered away from trying to score a knockout.
Abdullaev’s power shots had a lot to do with that as well. He caught Muratalla in the sixth round with two big right hands that seemed to stun him momentarily. After that round, Muratalla was a lot less aggressive for the remainder of the fight. He wasn’t going to take any chances.
The scores were 118-110, 119-109, and 119-109.
