Andy Cruz dominated Hironori Mishiro in an IBF lightweight eliminator tonight at the Madison Square Garden Theater in New York, earning a shot at the title held currently by Raymond Muratalla.
Muratalla was recently elevated from interim to full titlist status in the wake of Vasiliy Lomachenko’s retirement, and his first defense could be a tough one against the Cuban amateur great, who looked nastier than ever as a pro tonight.
Mishiro (17-2-1, 6 KO) was tough but just got taken apart in this fight, deeply out his depth with Cruz (6-0, 3 KO), who was landing at will by the third round. Mishiro went down twice in the third, and Cruz took his foot off the gas a bit in the fourth, only to finish Mishiro off in the fifth round when referee Eric Dali had very reasonably seen enough punishment in the mismatch.
