{"id":609798,"date":"2026-05-29T06:09:15","date_gmt":"2026-05-29T06:09:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/609798\/"},"modified":"2026-05-29T06:09:15","modified_gmt":"2026-05-29T06:09:15","slug":"matchroom-wins-purse-bid-for-andy-cruz-albert-bell-ibf-eliminator","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/609798\/","title":{"rendered":"Matchroom Wins Purse Bid For Andy Cruz-Albert Bell IBF Eliminator"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>  <a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/preferences\/source?q=boxing247.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" style=\"display:flex; align-items:center; justify-content:center;&#010;            width:140px; height:40px; overflow:hidden;\"><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"660\" height=\"208\" alt=\"Add East Side Boxing as a preferred source on Google\" class=\"perfmatters-lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/1770669047_552_google.png\"\/><\/p>\n<p>  <\/a><\/p>\n<p>  <a href=\"https:\/\/news.google.com\/publications\/CAAqKAgKIiJDQklTRXdnTWFnOEtEV0p2ZUdsdVp6STBOeTVqYjIwb0FBUAE?ceid=US:en&amp;oc=3&amp;hl=en-US&amp;gl=US\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" style=\"display:flex; align-items:center; justify-content:center;&#010;            width:140px; height:40px; overflow:hidden;\"><br \/>\n    <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"468\" height=\"128\" alt=\"Follow East Side Boxing on Google News\" style=\"height:100%; width:auto; display:block;\" class=\"perfmatters-lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/follow-google-news.png\"\/><br \/>\n  <\/a> <\/p>\n<p>Bell, ranked #3 by the IBF, is expected to receive the larger split at 60 percent, while the #4-ranked Cruz takes 40 percent of the purse.<\/p>\n<p>Cruz fought Muratalla earlier this year and lost a majority decision but quickly returned to the title picture after Lucas Bahdi declined an eliminator opportunity against the Cuban contender.<\/p>\n<p>Bell (28-0, 9 KOs) has stayed unbeaten during his long run at lightweight while waiting for a major fight opportunity.<\/p>\n<p>The Road Back for Cruz<\/p>\n<p>Cruz is looking for a quick route back to a title opportunity after suffering his first professional defeat in January. In that fight, he gave Muratalla one of the toughest nights of his career, pushing the unbeaten champion in a close majority decision loss. Cruz\u2019s amateur background, technical ability, and movement caused Muratalla repeated problems, especially in the early rounds. A second fight could become far more difficult for Muratalla if Cruz makes the right adjustments over twelve rounds.<\/p>\n<p>While Shakur Stevenson previously mentioned Muratalla as a possible opponent after moving to 140 pounds, discussion about that matchup has cooled in recent months. A Stevenson fight would still represent a much bigger payday for Muratalla than another defense against Cruz, but the winner of Cruz-Bell will move into mandatory position for the IBF title.<\/p>\n<p>Bell enters the eliminator with an unbeaten record but little experience against top-level opposition. The Toledo native has been a professional since 2013 and spent most of his career fighting lower-tier opponents without receiving major exposure.<\/p>\n<p>Standing 6-foot tall, Bell has unusual size for the lightweight division and understands how to use his reach. Even so, stepping into the ring against a skilled fighter like Cruz represents a dramatic jump in competition. Bell will need a career-best performance to slow Cruz\u2019s return toward another title shot.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Bell, ranked #3 by the IBF, is expected to receive the larger split at 60 percent, while the&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":609799,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[2560,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-609798","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-boxing","tag-boxing","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/609798","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=609798"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/609798\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/609799"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=609798"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=609798"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=609798"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}