Raymond Muratalla says he’ll be ready to challenge for a world title against one of the lightweight champions after his 10-round fight against Jesus Antonio Perez Campos on November 2nd at the Turning Stone Resort Casino in Verona, New York. The fight will be shown live on ESPN+.
#2 WBC, #2 WBO, and #4 IBF ranked Muratalla (21-0, 16 KOs) battles Campos (25-5, 18 KOs) in the co-feature spot on the Robson Conceição vs. O’Shaquie Foster II undercard.
This will be the third fight this year for the 27-year-old Muratalla. He’s coming off a competitive 10-round unanimous decision win over former IBF super featherweight champion Tevin Farmer on July 13th. In Muratalla’s clash before that, he defeated Xolisani Ndongeni by a 10-round unanimous decision on March 29th in Glendale, Arizona.
Muratalla wasn’t impressive against Farmer or Ndongeni, struggling with the skills of the two fighters. Against Campos, he’s going to need to look a lot better to prevent his stock from dropping further. Campos, 27, is coming off of a 10-round split decision win over Joseph ‘JoJo’ Diaz. Before that, he lost to Brian Norman Jr. and Alexis Rocha.
“I don’t know how it came about. I was hoping to get Shakur, Berinchyk, or Loma. I was preparing for one of those guys,” said Raymond Muratalla to Fighthype when asked how Jesus Antonio Perez Campos was selected as his opponent for November 2nd.
WBC lightweight champion Shakur Stevenson is injured, so he couldn’t fight Muratalla. His new promoter, Eddie Hearn, is lining him up for a fight against #1 ranked William Zepeda in February. Muratalla is not in the picture for Shakur and will likely need to become mandatory for his WBC title before he gives him a title shot.
“I think this is going to be one of those good fights that I can learn a lot from and show a lot. This guy is a beast. He’s going to come forward and put on a fight. He’s not just going to show up just to be there,” said Muratalla about Campos. “I’m prepared; I’m ready for this.”
If Muratalla loses to Campos, it’s going to be a huge setback for his career, and he’ll likely be dropped down to near the bottom of the lightweight rankings.
“You’re going to see a lot more of the skillset that I have. I think it’s going to come out. The only one that mentioned my name is Berinchyk, and I’d really like to go that route to fight him,” said Muratalla about WBO lightweight champion Denys Berinchyk being the only champion at 135 that has talked about wanting to defend his belt against him.
“I do think that’s a high possibility of happening,” said Muratalla about Gervonta Davis fighting him sooner or later. “I do see him beating Roach.
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