Matchroom Boxing revealed their early 2026 slate of fight cards, which includes two world title bouts, a title unification fight and a grudge match.
On Jan. 24, Raymond Muratalla will defend his IBF lightweight title against 2020 Olympic gold medalist and undefeated Cuban fighter Andy Cruz at Fontainebleau in Las Vegas.
Muratalla (23-0, 17 KOs) won the vacant title in his last outing when he outpointed Zaur Abdullaev in May. His first title defense will be against the surging Cruz, who made his professional debut in 2023 and is undefeated with a record of 6-0. Cruz is coming off of an impressive fifth-round stoppage of Hironori Mishiro in June.
The following week finds IBF junior middleweight champion Bakhram Murtazaliev (23-0, 17 KOs) putting his title on the line against Josh Kelly (17-1-1, 9 KOs) at Utilita Arena in Newcastle.
Kelly has won seven straight fights since being stopped by David Avanesyan in 2021. Murtazaliev will make his second defense of the title he claimed in 2024 with a knockout of Jack Culcay. He finished Tim Tszyu in three rounds in Oct. 2024 and will be competing for the first time in over a year.
A grudge match between Leigh Wood (28-4, 17 KOs) and Josh Warrington (32-4-1, 8 KOs) will headline a Feb. 21 fight card at Motorpoint Arena in Nottingham.
When they met in Oct. 2023, Wood pulled off a come from behind knockout win over Warrington. Wood is looking to get back into the win column after being stopped by Anthony Cacace in May while Warrington hopes to avenge the knockout loss and win his second consecutive fight.
Finally, Emanuel Navarrete and Eduardo “Sugar” Nunez will clash in a junior lightweight unification fight on Feb. 28 at the Desert Diamond Arena in Arizona.
Navarrete (39-2-1, 32 KOs) holds the WBO title while Nunez (29-1, 27 KOs) is in possession of the IBF championship. Nunez set up the unification fight with a unanimous decision win against Christopher Diaz in September. The fight was originally penciled in for March 7 at Footprint Center in Phoenix but has since been relocated to Glendale and will take place a week earlier.
