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Philippines, 26 Jan 2026 |
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THE PAST WEEK IN ACTION 25 JANUARY 2026: Raymund Muratalla Edges Andy Cruz; Walsh Outpoints Ocampo By Eric Armit PhilBoxing.com Mon, 26 Jan 2026  HIGHLIGHTS: - Ray Muratalla retains the IBF lightweight title with a majority decision over Andy Cruz and there are wins for Khalil Coe and Israil Madrimov -In the first show for Dana White’s new Zuffa promotion outfit Calum Walsh remains unbeaten with a points win over Carlos Ocampo. There are also wins for Olympian Misael Rodriguez, Julian Rodriguea and Omar Trinidad -Connor Coyle returns from suspension with a win - Julio Cesar Chavez Jnr and brother Omar score wins MAJOR SHOWS: JANUARY 23 LAS VEGAS, CA, USA: MIDDLE: CALUM WALSH (16-0) W PTS 10 CARLOS OCAMPO (38-4). MIDDLE: MISAEL RODRIGUEZ (16-0) W RTD 4 AUSTIN DEANDA (17-1). SUPER LIGHT: JULIAN RODRIGUEZ (25-1) W PTS 10 CAIN SANDOVAL (17-1). FEATHER: OMAR CONDE TRINIDAD(21-0-2) W TKO 10 MAX ORNELAS (17-3-1). BANTAM: FLOYD DIAZ (14-0) W PTS 8 GUILLERMO GUTIERREZ (13-3).  Walsh vs. Ocampo WALSH gets the win but suffers a flash knockdown and fails to impress against OCAMPO. Walsh was looking to make a statement in his first fight for new promoter Jaffa and first up at middleweight and he was quickly firing straight lefts looking to take Ocampo out early. That was followed by some frantic exchanges with neither boxer landing anything of consequence. Walsh dominated from there. He was much quicker than Ocampo and found the Mexican an easy target for southpaw lefts but rarely used his jab and rarely sustained his attacks just darting in and throwing a burst of punches then diving out again. Ocampo spent the fight following Walsh around the ring just too slow to cut off the ring and too slow with his counters. Walsh was knocked off balance by a left in the sixth and briefly touched the canvas with both hands leading to a count. Walsh continued to box on the back foot occasionally landing some heavy lefts and easily avoiding Ocampo’s attacks but never looking likely to end the fight early. It was ten rounds of work against an experienced if limited opponent and Walsh won on scores of 98-90 twice and 97-91 with a deduction against Ocampo for a low punch in the ninth making the scores wider. Rodriguez vs. Deanda RODRIGUEZ proves too strong for DEANDA This looked a fairly even match on paper but Rodriguez was just too strong for Deanda. After a close first round Rodriguez dominated the fight. He was hounding Deanda around the ring behind stiff jabs and hooks to the body. Deanda was unable to get on the front foot and just could not keep Rodriguez out. Deanda put in a big effort at the start of the fourth firing lots of jabs but Rodriguez quickly took control forcing Deanda back feeding Deanda a stream of jabs, hooks and uppercuts. At the end of the fourth there was a long discussion between the ringside doctor and Deanda and Deanda retired. Mexican Rodriguez, a 2016 Olympian, makes it 8 wins by KO/TKO. Deanda had built his record on the boxing backwoods of Virginian and South Carolina and Rodriguez was in a different class. Sandoval vs. Rodriguez RODRIGUEZ outpoints an ever aggressive previously undefeated SANDOVAL. Rodriguez won by a wide margin on all three cards but this was the best fight of the night. Rodriguez blunted the relentless attacks of Sandoval with clever boxing, strong jabbing and hard, accurate counters. Sandoval was coming forward from the start with Rodriguez countering and moving finding gaps slotting punches through Sandoval’s guard and piling up the points. Sandoval was undeterred and kept marching forward throwing punches looking to close Rodriguez down and forcing Rodriguez to work hard in every round. At times it looked as though Sandoval’s work rate might wear Rodriguez down but each time that happened Rodriguez came back with a bursts of heavy counters. The back and forth action and sustained exchanges made for an entertaining fight and a frantic seventh was the best round of the fight. It seemed to take more out of Rodriguez than it did of Sandoval and Rodriguez spent much of the eighth round pinned against the ropes taking fire but he bounced back to finish strongly and win on scores of 99-91 twice and 98-92. Rodriguez was disappointing in his loss to Jose Pedraza but had impressed in climbing off the floor to stop unbeaten 17-0 Avious Griffin in June so two good wins in a row. Sandoval played his part in making this such an entertaining fight and at 23 has plenty of time to rebound. Trinidad vs. Ornelas TRINIDAD remains unbeaten as he stops ORNELAS early in the tenth. Trinidad had a 20-bout winning streak snapped when he was held to a draw by Venezuelan Lorenzo Parra in August but rebounded well with this win over Californian Ornelas. It looked as though this one was going to end early as Trinidad scored three knockdowns in the first three rounds. Ornelas started well outscoring Trinidad in the first but he was knocked off balance and down by a stiff jab in the second and by two left hooks in the third. Despite the knockdowns Ornelas was far from finished and he matched Trinidad over the middle rounds looking to have edged the sixth and seventh. It looked as though it could end up being a tight finish until Ornelas dislocated his shoulder late in the eighth. His team popped the shoulder back in and Ornelas told the doctor her wanted to continue. He made it through the ninth but when his shoulder was dislocated again in the tenth the referee stopped the fight. Trinidad gets the win and is back on track. The two previous losses for Ornelas were split decisions against unbeaten fighters so he is due some luck. Diaz vs. Gutierrez DIAZ returns to action with a win as he outpoints GUTIERREZ. In his first fight since September 2024 Diaz took a wide unanimous decision over Texan Gutierrez. Diaz had some rust to shed and Gutierrez looked sharper in the first. Diaz had a chance to end it in the second when he nailed Gutierrez with a big left hook but it landed too late in the round and Gutierrez survived. From there Diaz dominated the action and produced a strong finish to take the decision by 79-73 on all three cards. LONG BEACH, CA, USA: SUPER BANTAM: JOSE SANCHEZ (15-0) W TKO 6 JESUS RAMIREZ (23-5-3). SANCHEZ halts the more experienced RAMIREZ in the sixth. In his first fight for 14 months Sanchez took a few rounds to shake the dust and then finished Ramirez in style. It was a close fight for four rounds but Sanchez almost ended it in the fifth. He dropped Ramirez twice in the fifth and twice more in the sixth and the fight was stopped. Ninth win by KO/TKO for Sanchez. Ramirez suffers his fifth inside the distance loss including a first round stoppage against Nick Ball and a ninth round kayo by Ramon Cardenas. JANUARY 24 CANCUN. MEXICO: SUPER BANTAM: CELEX CASTRO (22-0) W TKO 5 JOSE FLORES (8-4). Local hope Castro knocks out Flores in the fifth. Castro dropped Flores in the third but Flores recovered and did enough to take the fourth. In the fifth as Flores lunged forward Castro missed him with a left then connected with a tremendous straight right that put Flores down on his back. The referee immediately waived the fight over without a count and Flores was out cold for an extended period but was able to leave the ring on his feet. Fifteenth inside the distance win for 25-year-old Castro. SAN LUIS POTOSI, MEXICO: CRUISER JULIO CESAR CHAVEZ JNR(55-7-1) W TKO 4 ANGEL SACCO (10-2-1). LIGHT HEAVY: OMAR CHAVEZ (42-9-1) W KO 2 JOSE TORRES (40-24). Chavez vs. Sacco In his first fight since losing to Jake Paul in June CHAVEZ stops Argentinian SACCO in four rounds. It was an easy night for Chavez as he wore down the inexperienced Sacco. A sustained attack saw Sacco get a standing count in the fourth and after the count he was taking heavy punishment and the referee stopped the fight. Now 39 Chavez started out in 2003 weighing 130 lbs he was 191 ½ for this fight. He is talking about taking another run at landing a title shot but that seems an unrealistic dream. Sacco was having his first fight since October 2023. Chavez vs. Torres CHAVEZ gets this one over quickly as he stops inept Colombian TORRES in the first round. Chavez floored Torres twice in the first round and put him down and out in the second. Chavez weighed 134 lbs in his first fight back in 2006 and was fighting at light heavyweight in this fight. Torres, 46, now has 18 losses by KO/TKO. TAMPA, FL, USA: MIDDLE: CONNOR COYLE (22-1,1ND) W TKO 8 PACHINO HILL (8-11-2). COYLE returns to action with a win as he stops HILL in the last round of their eight round fight. Coyle had returned an adverse finding from a post-fight test conducted after his drawn February 2025 clash with Vito Mielnicki Jr. Coyle stated he had just signed a contract to fight WBA middleweight world champion Erislandy Larawhen he was given the suspension. Hill is 0-10-1 in his last 11 fights LAS VEGAS, NV, USA: LIGHT RAY MURATALLA (24-0) W PTS 12 ANDY CRUZ (6-1). LIGHT HEAVY: KHALIL COLE (11-1-1) W PTS 10 JESSE HART (31-4).MIDDLE: ISRAIL MADRIMOV (11-2-1) W PTS 10 LUIS SALAZAR (20-2). SUPER WELTER: OMARI JONES (5-0) W PTS 6 JEROME BAXTER 7-1). SUPER FEATHER: ZAQUIN MOSES (6-0) W PTS 6 LEANDRO MEDINA (7-3).  Muratalla vs. Cruz MURATALLA makes a successful first defence of the IBF title with a majority decision over CRUZ. A competitive first round saw Cruz jabbing well and putting together some sharp combinations with Muratalla connecting with a couple of hard rights but just being edged out. Those rights served Muratalla well in the second as he put Cruz under pressure and found the target with rights. The pace quickened in the third with Muratalla forcing Cruz to the ropes and attacking the challengers body. Cruz banged back hard and there were some furious, crowd-pleasing exchanges. Cruz evened things up with an impressive fourth. He used smart footwork to stay off the ropes and his quick and accurate jabbing and fast rights earned him the points. Muratalla‘s heavier punching was registering better with the judges and after four rounds Muratalla was ahead 39-37 on two cards and the third had then even at 38-38. Muratalla came on strongly over the fifth and sixth. He was putting Cruz under heavy pressure scoring well to the body and finding a home for well-placed uppercuts. Cruz was boxing with outstanding skill but Muratalla was winning the rounds and looked to have hurt Cruz with a body shot in the sixth. Body punching also gave Muratalla a slight edge in the seventh but Cruz was making the rounds close by constantly working away his jab and using his speed to find gaps. Taking the fifth, sixth and seventh opened a gap in the points for Muratalla. Cruz badly needed to win a round and he did in the eighth. He stayed off the ropes and rattled Muratalla with jabs giving himself some room to make use of his better skills. After the eighth Muratalla was 78-74 in front on two cards and the third had it 76-76. Cruz cut the deficit with hard work in the ninth. His sharp jabbing was blunting Muratalla‘s attempts to force him back and he was getting through with right counters. All of the rounds were close and the pace of the action was producing an entertaining, high quality fight full of nonstop action. Cruz picked up another round as he fed Muratalla jab after jab in the tenth and connected with a solid right. With two rounds to go it was too close to call. The eleventh was fairly even but Muratalla put in the stronger finish to take the last. One judge had it 116-112 for Muratalla, one had it 114-114 but the third judge somehow saw it 118-110 for Muratalla giving Cruz only the first and eighth rounds! Muratalla had not actually won the full IBF title but instead was upgraded from interim champion but as Cruz was No 1 this victory gives Muratalla deserved legitimacy and the freedom to make a voluntary defence. Shooting for the title in only his seventh fight might have been seen as over ambitious but Cruz’s CV from the amateurs included 1 Olympic gold medal, 3 World championships, 2 Pan American Games golds 1 Central American Championships gold and he was Cuban champion four times so a whole wealth of experience behind him . Coe vs. Hart COE gets a hotly disputed majority decision over HART. There was plenty of bad feeling surrounding this fight. Coe disgracefully weighed in at 182 ¾ lbs and Hart 174 ½ so a 9 lb difference and that led to scuffles at the weigh in. Despite the difference Hart agreed to go ahead with the fight. Coe looked to be on his way to edging the opening round until Hart connected booming right that gave him the edge. A close second saw both have some success but Coe stupidly threw away a point in the third. As Hart came in Coe hoisted him onto his shoulder and then threw him to the canvas resulting in a point deduction. Coe switched to southpaw in the fourth but that did not help as Hart had the better of the exchanges and connected with some hurtful body punches. Coe rebounded with a good fifth as he shook Hart with a right and connected with a strong left hook. Hart seemed to be tiring and he was deducted a point in the sixth for excessive holding and was outworked by Coe in the seventh. Hart still seemed to be felling the pace in the eighth as Coe scored well with body punches. The pattern changed in the ninth with Coe’s output dropping dramatically and Hart on top and Hart carried that impetus into the tenth taking that round and looking to have done enough to have earned a close decision. The judges saw it differently with scores of 96-92 and 95-93 for Coe and 94-94.  Madrimov vs. Salazar In his first fight for 11 months former WBA super welter champion MADRIMOV shakes off the rust as he scores a unanimous decision over Dominican SALAZAR. Madrimov worked hard trying to establish his jab in the first putting Salazar on the back foot with steady pressure. The effect of the lay-off showed as he was often short with his jab but he improved as the fight went on. He was finding the target with body punches and straight rights and easily dealing with Salazar’s occasional attacks. Salazar was competitive but didn’t have the punch to be a threat. Madrimov swept the first five rounds occasionally switching to southpaw and just staying busy. In the sixth rights from Salazar had Madrimov showing a small cut outside his left eye and a growing swelling by the same eye but it was never really a factor. He showed signs of fatigue over the seventh and eighth but stepped up his pace late in the ninth and went looking for a stoppage in the tenth. He shook Salazar with a right to the head and then drove Salazar around the ring landing more rights and Salazar had to hold to make it to the bell. Scores 99-91 on all three cards. Not a great performance from Madrimov but he has come through a tough period losing to Terence Crawford and Vergil Ortiz, suffering a shoulder injury and a bout of pneumonia. He is still rated in the top 10 by the WBA, WBC and WBO but will need at least one more fight before aiming for a title shot.  Jones vs. Baxter Olympic bronze medallist JONES drops and decisions BAXTER. Jones had taken less than nine rounds for his first four wins and when he sent Baxter down with a stiff jab in the first it looked like another short night. Baxter was up quickly and although losing every round took Jones the distance. Jones won 60-53 on the three cards but finally got some rounds under his belt. Moses vs. Medina MOSES much too talented for MEDINA. The 20-year-old southpaw, a cousin of Shakur Stevenson, floored Medina with a right hook in the fourth and showed impressive hand speed and power as he cruised to victory with the three judges all scoring it 60-53. The three-time national champion looks capable of reaching the top. FIGHT OF THE WEEK( Significance): Ray Muratalla’s win over Andy Cruz will clear the way for a voluntary defence for Muratalla FIGHT OF THE WEEK( Entertainment) Muratalla vs. Cruz was a high quality all-action bout. Honourable mention to Julian Rodriguez vs. Sandoval FIGHTER OF THE WEEK: Ray Muratalla for turning back the challenge of Cuban Andy Cruz PUNCH OF THE WEEK: The right from Celex Castro that knocked Jose Flores out cold. UPSET OF THE WEEK: None ONE TO WATCH: Super featherweight Zaquin Moses 6-0 OBSERVATION: Rosette(s)-Muratalla vs. Cruz for providing a high quality fight in an otherwise low key weekend -Jesse Hart for not bailing out on the fight when Coe came in at 182 ¾ lbs for a 175 lbs title fight Red Card(s) Khalil Cole for coming in so far over the weight for his title defence. ZUFFA Zuffa promotion groups first show was a decidedly low key affair. Now they have launched it remains to be seen whether they cause a seismic change in the way top level boxing is run. They are in partnership with Sela Sport and have the backing of Turki Alalshikh, president of Saudi Arabia's General Entertainment Authority. Zuffa Boxing will have its own world titles and will use The Ring magazine's ranking system to determine the top contenders and White has said “I’m going to abolish the organizations that regulate boxing “. About the Author  Born in Scotland, Eric Armit started working with Boxing News magazine in the UK in the late 1960’s initially doing records for their Boxing News Annual and compiling World, European and Commonwealth ratings for the magazine. He wrote his first feature article for Boxing News in 1973 and wrote a “World Scene” weekly column for the magazine from the late 1970’s until 2004. Armit wrote a monthly column for Boxing Digest in the USA and contributed pieces to magazines in Mexico, Italy, Australia, Spain, Argentina and other countries. Armit now writes a Weekly Report covering every major fight around the world and a bi-weekly Snips & Snipes column plus occasional general interest articles with these being taken up by boxing sites around the world. He was a member of the inaugural WBC Ratings Committee and a technical advisor to the EBU Ratings Committee and was consulted by John McCain’s research team when they were drafting the Ali Act. He is a Director and former Chairman of the Commonwealth Boxing Council. Armit has been nominated to the International Boxing Hall of Fame the past two years (2019 and 2020) to which he said, “Being on the list is an unbelievably huge honour.” Click here to view a list of other articles written by Eric Armit.  |
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