2020 Olympic Cuban gold medalist Andy Cruz (5-0, 2 KOs) will battle Hironori Mishiro (17-1-1, 6 KOs) in an IBF lightweight title eliminator on the Richardson Hitchins vs. George Kambosos Jr. card on June 14th at The Theater at Madison Square Garden in New York City. The event will be shown live on DAZN.
The winner of the Cruz-Mishiro fight could wind up challenging Raymond Muratalla if he’s elevated to the full champion, if the current IBF champ Vasily Lomachenko chooses to retire rather than come back. Given that Cruz is talented and not one of Top Rank’s fighters, Muratalla will likely wait a year or more before he defends against him.
Top Rank promotes Muratalla, and they won’t want him to lose the IBF right away to Cruz in a low-paying fight. They’ll extend it as l long as possible, and try and set up more lucrative matches against Gervonta Davis, Keyshawn Davis or Abdullah Mason.
Protecting Shakur from Cruz
Interestingly, promoter Eddie Hearn is positioning Andy Cruz toward the IBF title rather than the WBC belt held by Matchroom fighter Shakur Stevenson. Cruz is ranked #1 WBC and #3 IBF. The idea is to protect Shakur long enough for him to get the big money fight against WBA champion Gervonta Davis.
If Hearn were to make the fight with Shakur against Cruz, the Newark, New Jersey native would likely lose. That would permanently wreck his chances of getting the Tank fight. It’s smart but still looks bad that Stevenson is being safeguarded from being beaten by the more talented Cruz. It’s business.
Cruz has been calling out Keyshawn Davis steadily since he turned pro in 2023, but with no luck. Now that Keyshawn has captured the WBO title from fellow Top Rank fighter Denys Berinchyk, there’s even less interest on his part to face Cruz.
New York State of Mind 🗽@Andydiamondcruz in an IBF World Lightweight Title Final Eliminator, plus Alexis Barriere, Ernesto Mercado, @zaquin_moses, @nishantdevjr, the pro debut of Adam Maca & Pablo Valdez 🔥 #HitchinsKambosos joined by a stacked card at @TheTheaterAtMSG on… pic.twitter.com/DQ7NOpGJJA
— Matchroom Boxing (@MatchroomBoxing) May 16, 2025
Last Updated on 05/17/2025
Read the full article here