By: Sean Crose
Raymond Muratalla 17-0 started the ESPN Pay Per View card featuring Devin Haney and Vasyl Lomachenko Saturday night by taking on Jeremia Nakathila 23-2 in a scheduled 10-round lightweight match at the MGM Grand in Vegas.
The first is a perceptive process and a rather slow one. Nakathila slipped in the second, even though it was of no consequence. However, Muratalla caught his man near the end of the round, and after a short bout, the referee intervened and stopped the game. It was the right decision, as there was no doubt that Nakatila was suffering some kind of severe punishment.
As the protégé of celebrity trainer Robert Garcia, Muratalla has earned several minor belts thanks to his win. Perhaps more importantly, he performed brilliantly on a major battle card. “This time, man, I was very prepared for this fight,” Muratalla said afterward. “No one has ever stopped Nakathila. I just blocked him in the second round.
“I want the main event winner,” he said of the Haney-Lomachenko fight.
