SAN DIEGO – Raymond Muratalla’s pursuit of a world title may be days away if three-division champion Vasiliy Lomachenko opts to retire and surrender his IBF lightweight belt.

Until then, Muratalla did all he wanted to accomplish Saturday night at Pechanga Arena, dismissing Russia’s Zaur Abdullaev to claim the IBF interim lightweight title by unanimous decision scores of 119-109 (twice) and 118-110.

“It feels great to put this around my waist. It was a long journey. We got it now,” said Muratalla, now 23-0 (17 KOs). “[Abdullaev’s] a tough fighter. He came to fight. I was using my skills.”

Lomachenko, 37, has until October 8 to fight Muratalla – and his decision is expected imminently.

“I’m now the mandatory to fight him. It’d be an honor to fight him,” Muratalla said of Lomachenko.

Muratalla spent a wealth of time sparring for the Abdullaev bout, mastering his movement and ability to shift into position to land scoring blows. He started the night with jabs, then shuffled to deliver a left hand to the body and a right to the face.

The intensity of the punches increased in the second round when Muratalla belted Abdullaev with a hard, sudden right hand to the head, followed by a rapid right-left combination.

Muratalla dabbled in a southpaw position in the third, reverted back to orthodox to land jabs and landed a quick right before the pair exchanged blows, indicating Abdullaev recognized his early deficit.

Muratalla’s attention to defense and his sharp head movement makes him an elusive target, and it turned the bout more deliberate in the fourth. There’s risk in caution, because Abdullaev unloaded two big right hands in the fifth, and catching up to win the round becomes a more ominous challenge.

Muratalla opted to let his hands go more freely in the sixth, leaning on his skilled footwork to find Abdullaev with the greater abundance of scoring blows. He leaned into the benefit of activity again in the seventh.

Muratalla extended his lead by jabbing crisply and maneuvering to land effective rights, but as the eighth round moved along, some groans from the crowd arose.

Fair or not, the showing was ripe to be compared with the February 14 WBO lightweight title victory by 2021 U.S. Olympic silver medalist Keyshawn Davis, who produced a masterful and destructive stoppage of Ukraine’s Denys Berinchyk.

The masses don’t pay for head movement. They want knockouts, not precaution.

Muratalla initially balked at expressing interest in meeting Davis, saying, “I’ve got a mandatory. I’m not focused on that right now.”

But then he added: “I’m coming to win. I want all the belts.” 

Before the 10th round, Muratalla’s 2024 trainer of the year, Robert Garcia, was seen urging his fighter to unleash flurries, or at least to follow a scoring blow with more than a withdrawal.

Muratalla absorbed some shots in the 11th and responded with effective uppercuts and jabs that added to the bruised face of Abdullaev, getting the better of their increased action in the 12th.

Saturday night, it was enough to win and move on. But with the likes of Keyshawn Davis, Gervonta “Tank” Davis, Shakur Stevenson and even unbeaten contender Andy Cruz looming in the division, Muratalla will learn soon about all the responsibilities that accompany that new strap around his waist.

“Different styles will bring the best out of me,” he said. “I will continue to work on my craft, and you’ll see a better version of Raymond every time out.”