Muratalla beats game Farmer, Segawa shocks Villa

Raymond Muratalla called out Denys Berinchyk after earing a unanimous decision

Top Rank’s A-sides had a rough go of things at the Palms last night when Raymond Muratalla edged out Tevin Farmer and Ruben Villa suffered a massive upset loss to unheralded Ugandan veteran Sulaiman Segawa.

Muratalla (21-0, 16 KO), competing in his first main event thanks to Janibek Alimkhanuly’s untimely exit before Friday’s weigh-ins, spent the first half of the bout struggling with the craft that made Farmer (33-6-1, 8 KO) a menace in his super featherweight heyday. Despite eating a number of heavy left hands from the former champ, though, Muratalla eventually found his footing and began imposing his will.

An increasingly ineffective Farmer lost a point for holding in the eighth round, then very nearly lost consciousness from a crushing right hook in the final 90 seconds of the fight. While he managed to stay on his feet and see the final bell, Muratalla swept the last three rounds on all three scorecards to secure a unanimous decision win.

Muratalla proceeded to call out the recently crowned Denys Berinchyk, but Top Rank may want to give him an extra fight or two to apply what he learned here. As for Farmer, he’s clearly still got something left in the tank and could be a problem if he returned to 130.

In the co-feature, Villa (22-2, 7 KO) saw his dreams of a rematch with Luis Alberto Lopez go up in smoke thanks to Segawa’s (17-4-1, 6 KO) grit and steady output. Over the course of 10 entertaining rounds, Segawa consistently proved the more effective hitter in close quarters, cracking Villa with a number of heavy lefts despite Villa’s crisper hands.

Of particular note was the eighth round, which saw Segawa rattle Villa with straight lefts before “Drac” hurt him in return with a body shot.

Segawa, who was anywhere from a +700 to a +980 underdog going into the ring, ultimately walked away with a deserved unanimous decision. It’s far and away the most impressive win of his career, eclipsing a 2019 decision over current super bantamweight contender Elijah Pierce. Top Rank’s got no shortage of options for the 33-year-old’s next bout, whether it be one of their three featherweight champions or, more likely, hot prospect Bruce Carrington.

As for Villa, it’s once again back to the drawing board. He’s still got time to turn things around at 27, so hopefully he can tighten things up and get back in form.