2020 Olympic gold medalist Andy Cruz (6-0, 3 KOs) was superb on Saturday night, crushing Hironori Mishiro (17-2-1, 6 KOs) by a fifth-round technical knockout in an IBF lightweight title eliminator at The Theater at Madison Square Garden in New York City. Cruz used his power jab throughout the fight to tag Mishiro.

In the third round, Cruz opened up with right hands, dropping Mishiro twice. The second knockdown came in the final seconds of the third. If not, he would have surely been finished off by the Cuban talent.

Cruz took the fourth round off, mostly jabbing, moving, and occasionally landing right hands. In the fifth, Andy went after Mishiro, landing a three-punch combination that staggered him, forcing the referee to step in and halt the contest. The time was at 1:13 of the round.

Mishiro was trying to adapt and show more aggression in rounds four and five, but it wasn’t working. You could tell that he was given instructions by his corner to go on the attack because he was getting slaughtered by Cruz in the first three rounds. It didn’t work.

Cruz’s performance was the best thus far on tonight’s card. It was a masterclass, showing skills that the other fighters on the Matchroom card could only dream of having.

With the victory, Cruz is now the mandatory challenger for IBF lightweight champion Raymond Muratalla. That fight will be ordered soon, and it will be interesting to see how Muratalla’s promoters at Top Rank attempt to delay this fight. They can’t be excited about letting their fighter Muratalla defend against a phenom like Andy Cruz, because he’s on another level in terms of ability.

Muratalla is a big puncher, but he’s one-dimensional and fights like a robot. Moreover, he fights on one gear and doesn’t increase the tempo of his fights. He could be as overmatched as Mishiro was tonight.