The cameras caught Keyshawn’s response the moment the cards were read. He raised his hands in victory, as if it were a proxy one for himself. He’d lost to the Cuban talent Andy Cruz 4 times in amateur competition, including the 2020 Olympic finals.
Seeing Cruz look human in knowledgeable setting could have offered a psychological release that Davis has been waiting for years. With a lowly 0-4 record against Cruz, Keyshawn was taking any victory he could get, even one which he didn’t earn. His response gives a glimpse of where he’s at. For me, it wouldn’t be a win.
Although Muratalla’s win doesn’t actually answer the questions which have followed Davis since Tokyo. It doesn’t prove Davis is the higher pro. It also doesn’t erase the 4 losses he suffered of their amateur fights. If anything, it shows that Keyshawn is even below Muratalla.
Although the fight was close enough for it to have gone Cruz’s way, the judges gave it to Muratalla by the scores 114-114, 118-110, and 116-112. I had it for Cruz, but I used to be factoring within the jabs he was landing.
The judges could have focused more on aggression, who was pushing the fight more. That was Muratalla, 29, however it wasn’t effective aggression. He was coming forward, eating jabs, not landing much.
Watching Muratalla get his hand raised gave Davis something he could never earn himself within the ring. It didn’t settle the rating.
Davis is currently preparing for his own return on January 31 at Madison Square Garden. He’s moving as much as light welterweight to fight Jamaine Ortiz on the Ring 6 card on DAZN. Keyshawn had said recently that if Andy Cruz had beaten Muratalla to capture the IBF lightweight title, he could face him.
Now, that weight has been lifted off his shoulders with Cruz’s defeat. For them to fight now, Andy would must move as much as 140, and defeat considered one of the highest contenders to rebuild. That’s unlikely to occur, because he’s small even for the lightweight division’s standards.
Going as much as 140 to fight greater, stronger fighters would require that Cruz bulk up. It’s possible if he were ambitious, but at 30, it’s not realistic. I don’t see it happening. Cruz is precisely where he must be at lightweight. The best way he fought last Saturday, I’d favor him to beat the large three within the division: Shakur Stevenson, Abdullah Mason, and Floyd Schofield.