Raymond ‘Danger’ Muratalla took on Elias Araujo in one of the most interesting fights of the event. They originally set Muratalla against unbeaten prospect, Steven Ortiz. However, Ortiz stepped away from the fight due to an injury. Elias Araujo stepped up to the plate on short notice for an eight-round lightweight bout to open the main card for the Porter vs Crawford card.
The former Soccer player Elias Araujo started off the fight slow. Both fighters began sizing each other up and trying new things in the first round. However, it was Muratalla who began getting into a rhythm. Araujo kept charging toward Muratalla as the unbeaten California native tried to figure Araujo out.
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Raymond Muratalla is showing off his skillset on his biggest stage yet 💪
Order #CrawfordPorter now: https://t.co/EOg8FcXj8F pic.twitter.com/QFYvpDk6oJ
— Top Rank Boxing (@trboxing) November 21, 2021
The second round looked the same as the fighters kept throwing, but not connecting anything significant. In the third round, Muratalla started working.
He went to the body, stepped off to the side, went for the body, and began slowly breaking Araujo down. To Araujo’s credit, he never stopped coming forward, charging at Muratalla, not letting him settle down.
Raymond Muratalla was killin Steven Ortiz in the Lightweight Division fight but I thought that stoppage was premature. Muratalla was defnitely punishing him but the fight still had legs. #CrawfordvsPorter pic.twitter.com/nfUGoQQsAs
— Rodrigo Bravo (@mrbravo365) November 21, 2021
Halfway through the fight, Muratalla was connecting well and moving well to avoid most of Araujo’s punches. Muratalla then picked up the pace and started hurting Araujo.
In the fifth round, Muratalla began punching harder and started throwing more punches. Araujo got cut and was bleeding. After taking a lot of unanswered punches, the referee called a stop to the fight in the fifth round.
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Elias Araujo was Furious at the referee’s decision in favor of Raymond Muratalla
Although the Argentine took a lot of punishment, he never stopped charging at Muratalla and showed no signs of slowing down. He kept throwing punches and did not look stunned or hurt.
The referee, however, thought differently as he called a stop to the fight in the fifth round, saying, “That’s it, I’ve seen enough. I told you to show me something”.
Fight gets stopped as Elias Araujo has a cut on his face and Raymond Muratalla was throwing a lot of punches, but Araujo was not super hurt so scratching my head a bit at the stoppage. Official time: TKO win for Muratalla, round 5 (2:20) #CrawfordPorter
— Carlos Toro (@CarlosToroMedia) November 21, 2021
Araujo reacted furiously to the stoppage, along with the crowd, who echoed boos around the Michelob Ultra Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. Even during the announcement for the winner of the fight, Araujo paraded around the ring with his hands raised.
Do you think the referee made the right decision? Or did Araujo deserve to fight on?
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