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Raymond Muratalla vs Zaur Abdullaev Keys to Victory: Breaking down tactics of each fighter
Undefeated star in the making Raymond Muratalla clashes with a surging Zaur Abdullaev on Saturday night at the Pechanga Arena San Diego to decide who will lay claim to the vacant interim IBF lightweight world championship.
Muratalla (22-0, 17 KOs) has reached this point after defeating formidable opponents such as Jeremia Nakathila, Tevin Farmer, and most recently Jesus Perez, who he finished via second-round TKO in November.
He will test his skills against Abdullaev (20-1, 12 KOs), who has won nine straight fights, having not tasted defeat since his suffering his sole loss in September 2019.
Will Muratalla become the new interim IBF lightweight champ? Or will Abdullaev hand the upstart his first pro loss and take the crown for himself?
DAZN News analyzes the keys to victory, including breaking down the tactics of each fighter, heading into their intriguing bout.
Raymond Muratalla’s keys to victory
Download info, begin to potshot
Muratalla’s ability to keep his hands around chest level while looking for offense to create is excellent.
He tends to really get started once landing a potshot flush.
He does that early against Abdullaev — especially if that output splits the Russian’s guard — and it is likely that Muratalla will get rolling quickly and remain on the front foot.
Counterpunch off the parry
Another facet of Muratalla’s fight game that's glaring is the manner at which he can swat away incoming blows, only to counterpunch off the parry.
Dip back into the archives to see how he stifled Nakathila with that technique toward a second-round TKO back in May 2023.
Bring the heat with combinations
Once Muratalla starts piecing together his thundering combinations, he does not let up.
That is the kind of force Abullaev is going to have to deal with from Muratalla in this fight.
And if he cannot fight fire with fire, Abdullaev will find himself in a world of trouble.
Zaur Abdullaev’s keys to victory
Do not show overly hunched stance
Zaur Abdullaev has a habit of hunching and rounding his shoulders with a high, tight guard while looking for offense to execute.
Doing this against Muratalla can be dangerous due to the latter’s hand speed and Abullaev's own head placement.
His shoulders hunched as he plots around the ring make Abdullaev a target for Muratalla’s potshots to the head and face — or worse over, pounding combinations across the jaw.
Be willing to punch in traffic
Sequences across this fight might call for Abullaev to punch in traffic with Muratalla and be the first to connect.
That or concocting the right counterpunch at the apt time could be a way for the Russian to earn Muratalla’s respect in real time.
Step under Muratalla’s jab, launch uppercut
Watch the footage of Abdullaev’s unanimous decision win over Roger Gutierrez from February 2024 and you will note his ability to slip under a jab and crank that uppercut, leveraging the punch extremely well.
If he is willing to punch in traffic with Muratalla, slipping under the jab and exploding with the uppercut could be his prime way to force major turbulence for the undefeated rising star.
Not to mention, it could be Abdullaev’s chance to accomplish what he couldn’t against Devin Haney way back in September 2019 — and that is grab hold of an interim lightweight world title.
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