By Ian S Palmer
Jeremia Nakathila of Namibia will be taking on Raymond Muratalla of West Covina, California in a 10-round lightweight tilt this Saturday, May 20th. The bout from the MGM Grand in Las Vegas can be seen live in America on ESPN pay-per-view on the undercard of the Haney vs Lomachenko fight while fans in the UK can catch it on Sky Sports Action. Nakathila stopped Miguel Berchelt after six rounds in his last outing in March, 2022 while Muratalla halted Humberto Galindo in the ninth round just two months ago. Muratalla was dropped in the first round while Galindo went down in the fourth.
The 26-year-old Muratalla climbs into the ring with a perfect mark of 17-0 with 14 Ko’s and has 69 rounds of experience under his belt since making his pro debut in 2016. Before that, he enjoyed a brief amateur career and beat a young Ryan Garcia in a district Silver Gloves Tournament. Muratalla has plenty of power in his punches with a current knockout ratio of 82.4 per cent but was dropped in the first round in his last fight and has been on the canvas before that.
Muratalla stands 5-feet-8-inches tall and has an unlisted reach and is trained by Robert Garcia. He’s a fine young prospect and will be stepping up in class for his first major test this weekend. Up to now, he has earned wins over the likes of Miguel Contreras, Jair Valtierra, Jeremy Hill, Elias Damian Araujo, Jose Gallegos and Luis Porozo. He’s been taken the distance just three times but has never fought longer than nine rounds.
Nakathila is a 33-year-old who has a mark of 22-2 with 19 Ko’s and has fought 114 rounds since turning pro in 2013. His first loss came at the hands of Evgeny Chuprakov by 12-round majority decision in 2016 for the vacant WBO Inter-Continental Super Featherweight Title and he was beaten in June, 2021 via unanimous decision by Shakur Stevenson in a shot at the WBO interim Super Featherweight Belt.
This will be Nakathila’s third fight outside of Africa and before meeting Stevenson and Berchelt it would be hard for the average boxing fan to recognize any of his other opponents. However, since turning pro he’s won the WBO African Super Featherweight Title and defended it several times and captured the vacant WBO Global Super Featherweight Crown which he’s also defended a few times.
Unfortunately, Nakathila has an unlisted height and reach but we do know he also possesses pretty good power in his fists with a current knockout ratio of 76 per cent. He was completely outclassed by Stevenson and lost every round on all three scorecards, but bounced back with a second-round stoppage of Ndodana Ncube and looked terrific when he dismantled former world champion Berchelt. Nakathila will be stepping into the ring for the fist time in 14 months this weekend though.
Prediction…
Both boxers have an abundance of power but Nakathila may have the better chin. He definitely has a bit more experience as a pro and that should be a big advantage. This is a good test for Muratalla but he’ll have to be able to withstand Nakathila’s power to pass it. I’m expecting Muratalla to take a hard-earned win on Saturday night.
