Raymond Muratalla proved the oddsmakers and Andy Cruz wrong Saturday night.

Muratalla, an underdog despite being the defending IBF lightweight champion, pressured the ambitious Cuban contender throughout their back-and-forth fight, landed the harder punches with more regularity and won a majority decision to retain his title at Fontainebleau Las Vegas.

Cruz countered Muratalla and fought well almost exclusively off his back foot, yet judges Tim Cheatham (118-110) and Steve Weisfeld (116-112) scored 10 and eight rounds for the champion.

Judge Max De Luca scored their thoroughly competitive contest a draw, 114-114.

Muratalla, 29, defended his 135-pound championship for the first time. The Fontana, California, native was elevated to full champion when former champ Vasiliy Lomachenko retired a few weeks after Muratalla (24-0, 17 KOs) unanimously outpointed Russia’s Zaur Abdullaev to win the interim crown May 10 in San Diego.

“I came here to do what I was supposed to do, and I got the win tonight,” Muratalla told DAZN’s Chris Mannix. “I was just putting pressure. I knew he wasn’t gonna be able to handle it and taking him to deep waters for 12 rounds, he wasn’t able to handle it. … I wasn’t falling into his traps and I was breaking him apart, breaking him down round by round.”

Cruz (6-1, 3 KOs) boxed beyond the 10th round for the first time, but the well-conditioned tactician fought well during the championship rounds. A 2021 Olympic gold medalist, he was nonetheless denied in his bid to become a world champion.

By the time the final bell sounded, it seemed as though the judges would’ve had it much closer than Cheatham scored their DAZN main event.

CompuBox’s unofficial punch stats clearly indicated Cruz was more effective than Cheatham thought.

Cruz landed one more punch overall according to CompuBox (176-of-537 to 175-of-611). Muratalla was credited for landing 13 more power punches (112-of-296 to 99-of-251), whereas CompuBox counted 14 more jabs for Cruz (77-of-286 to 63-of-215).

Muratalla hammered Cruz with a right hand that backed him up with under a minute remaining in the 12th round. By then it was clear neither the heavy-handed champion nor the challenger would be hurt.

A stiff left by Muratalla made Cruz reset his feet 45 seconds into the 11th as his pressure remained a factor.

They traded short shots on the inside during the 10th as each fighter had his moments. Cruz caught the crowd’s attention with a right hand on the inside that backed up Muratalla.

Cruz caught Muratalla with right about 40 seconds into the ninth round. Muratalla’s right uppercut connected with just under a minute to go in the eighth, and he cracked Cruz with a hard right that made him shake his head with about 30 seconds to go in the seventh.

Cruz continued to throw hard rights and lefts as Muratalla came forward in the sixth.

Muratalla walked through Cruz’s right hand with about 1:10 left in the competitive fifth round. Cruz landed a harder right hand in an exchange with a little more than a minute to go in the fourth.

Cruz caught Muratalla with a right with just over a minute to go in the third round. Muratalla dug hard lefts to Cruz’s body around halfway point of the third.

Muratalla landed two rights as they traded punches in the center of the ring during the second round. A left by Muratalla landed later in the second as well.

A right uppercut by Muratalla landed with a little more than minute to go in the opening round. Cruz connected with two right hands in a five-second span barely a minute into the first round.

Eleven rounds later, Muratalla had separated himself from the most capable opponent of his nine-year pro career.

“[I proved] that I’m a champion,” Muratalla said. “I deserve to be here. I worked my ass off to get here and it’s showing.”