Andy Cruz’s first world title shot could come the next time he steps into the ring.

Cruz’s promoter, Matchroom Boxing’s Eddie Hearn, said that he’s working to make a matchup vs IBF lightweight champion Raymond Muratalla. Cruz is the mandatory challenger to Muratalla’s title.

“We’re in discussions for that fight,“ Hearn told The Ring. “It’s also a fight that His Excellency [Turki Alalshikh] likes. It’s a wonderful fight. The lightweight division is really heating up right now, so we’re ready to make that fight and ready for Andy to get a shot at the world championship.”

Cruz (6-0, 3 KOs), a 2021 Olympic gold medalist for Cuba, became the mandatory challenger after a dominant fifth-round stoppage of Hironori Mishiro in an IBF title eliminator on June 14.

Muratalla (23-0, 17 KOs) became the interim IBF lightweight champion with a dominant unanimous decision victory over Zaur Abdullaev on May 10 and was subsequently elevated to full titlist after former three-division world champion and two-time Olympic gold medalist for Ukraine, Vasiliy Lomachenko, announced his retirement on June 5.

Hearn also previously noted that Muratalla, 28, could be permitted to make a voluntary defense. Should he opt to go that route, Hearn said Cruz, 29, would take an interim bout before fighting for the IBF title. Alalshikh has also named Cruz vs. interim WBC lightweight champion William Zepeda as a fight he would like to make in November in Saudi Arabia.

Zepeda (33-0, 27 KOs) faces WBC lightweight champion Shakur Stevenson (23-0, 11 KOs) in the co-main event of The Ring’s “Ring III” pay-per-view show at Louis Armstrong Stadium in Queens, New York, on DAZN PPV on July 12.