\u201cThe mindset changes, you know what I mean? You\u2019re a champion now,\u201d smiled Raymond Muratalla. \u201cI immediately just got back to work, just went back to the gym and I\u2019ve just been working on more stuff because I know I\u2019m a champion now. People are going to be after me.\u201d<\/p>\n
The mindset is to keep improving even though the Californian holds the IBF\u2019s lightweight title.<\/p>\n
Knowing he would have a fight coming up, Muratalla went back into camp with trainer Robert Garcia to get ready and, sure enough, having upset Andy Cruz earlier in the year in Las Vegas, Muratalla defends his title against Robson Conceicao in Sin City on Saturday.<\/p>\n
The champion is 24-0 (17 KOs) and the 29-year-old boxes on the Lamont Roach-William Zepeda bill at Virgin Hotels.<\/p>\n
Is he now the hunter, looking at the other champions, or the hunted?<\/p>\n
\u201cIt seems like a little bit of both, I still feel like I\u2019m still growing and still working on things, so it\u2019s always room for improvement and I\u2019m always looking for a challenge and just trying to get these great fights,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Top Rank fighter has seen plenty, though. Cruz was a Cuban amateur star, Philly\u2019s Tevin Farmer a grizzled veteran and Russian Zaur Abdullaev had lost just once before they met.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it\u2019s important and to just be able to experience that, it\u2019s what it\u2019s all about,\u201d he said of the tests he\u2019s passed so far. \u201cI think every fight is a learning experience, no matter if they\u2019re like a veteran or not. There\u2019s always mistakes being made and there\u2019s always something to learn from, so I think every each and every one of my fights was something to learn from and to improve on.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Against Cruz, on a show promoted by Matchroom \u2013 who back Cruz \u2013\u00a0Muratalla was not expected to win.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt felt good, it felt good,\u201d he smiled.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt seemed like things weren\u2019t going to be on my side, but I believed in myself. I believed in my work ethic and I think just having that belief in myself was huge and got me that win. But I think as far as the mindset, I was going in that fight thinking I was going to win and believing I was going to win and it was my night and it was a good night.\u201d<\/p>\n
Muratalla believes the Cuban can still go on to \u201cdo great against other fighters\u201d but, for now, his attention is on the vastly-experienced Conceicao.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe comes to fight, he\u2019s a tough opponent,\u201d Muratalla said. \u201cHe\u2019s been in there with some good guys. We just know that he\u2019s going to come to fight. It\u2019s going to be a good fight. I think the fans are going to enjoy this one.\u201d<\/p>\n
When it is over, Muratalla will be able to compare what he has done against the Brazilian to the veteran’s former opponents, like Shakur Stevenson, O\u2019Shaquie Foster, Oscar Valdez and Emanuel Navarrete.<\/p>\n
\u201cAll I can do is just be myself in that ring and do what I can,\u201d the champion added. \u201cI think as long as I\u2019m fully prepared and a hundred percent in good shape, I\u2019ll be fine. I\u2019m looking to just be myself in that ring and have fun.\u201d
The priority for Muratalla is to stay busy. Sure, there are big names and other champions he can target, but he wants to box this weekend and again before the year is out.<\/p>\n
\u201cHonestly, just being active,\u201d he said of his goals. \u201dI want to keep fighting, man. I love to fight. This is what I love to do. So I\u2019m going to keep fighting, keep staying active and whoever they put in front of me, they put in front of me.<\/p>\n
\u201cObviously I\u2019m trying to hit it for the big fights, but I know it\u2019s going to be a process and I\u2019m working towards it and that\u2019s just what it is.\u201d<\/p>\n
Asked whether another Top Rank fighter, like Abdullah Mason, is a logical future opponent, Muratalla keeps his own counsel.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI mean if that happens, that happens, you know what I mean? It\u2019s hard to say what can and can\u2019t be done. I have no control over that, but as far as the big fights, that\u2019s something that I want. I\u2019m going to keep doing my job. I\u2019m going to keep fighting my fight and that\u2019s what\u2019s just going to happen.\u201d<\/p>\n
One name that has been mentioned is Stevenson, who is bigger and also on many pound-for-pound lists. Muratalla is not put-off by either fact, but he does know that Shakur signed with Zuffa Boxing and that might make a fight between them harder to envisage.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI have no clue what that\u2019s going to look like at all,\u201d he said of the promotional landscape. \u201cBut yeah, I would assume it\u2019s going to be difficult, but yeah, those guys, they can make it happen if they really wanted to. I guess we\u2019ll just see.\u201d<\/p>\n
There can is no margin for error this weekend, however.<\/p>\n
This time, Muratalla goes in a favorite but understands it could be a tough night.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m just really focused on the fight,\u201d he said. \u201cMindset\u2019s still the same and I\u2019m still going in there to win and I\u2019m not getting comfortable at all. I see this fight as a tough fight and another challenge. I always look at things to always get better and always improve on. You see guys, they get comfortable, they don\u2019t want to learn and see their careers maybe go downhill. I never want to make that mistake. It\u2019s always been something that\u2019s just in me. I always wanted to just get better and keep improving overall.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cThe mindset changes, you know what I mean? You\u2019re a champion now,\u201d smiled Raymond Muratalla. \u201cI immediately just…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":832985,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[571],"tags":[64,63,802,1920,6653,227601,368566,85],"class_list":["post-832984","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-boxing","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-boxing","tag-boxing-news","tag-boxingscene","tag-raymond-muratalla","tag-robson-conceicao","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/832984","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=832984"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/832984\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/832985"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=832984"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=832984"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=832984"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}