by Keith Idec
IN ONE of the most unforeseen, ironic twists in recent boxing history, Bakhram Murtazaliev indirectly dismissed Jermell Charlo as a potential opponent for his next fight late Saturday night.
When he was the IBF’s mandatory challenger in the junior middleweight division, Murtazaliev stepped aside four times to allow Charlo to face Jeison Rosario and Brian Castano twice in three title unification fights, and then Canelo Alvarez for an eight-figure payday. Murtazaliev made the most of his two IBF championship chances in 2024, however, and will only consider granting Charlo an opportunity to win back his IBF belt if Murtazaliev’s promoter, Main Events, cannot secure his own title unification clash with either the Sebastian Fundora-Errol Spence Jr. winner or Terence Crawford.
Murtazaliev (23-0, 17 KOs) made it clear in the immediate aftermath of his spectacular, stunning third-round demolition of Tim Tszyu (24-2, 17 KOs) that he is much more interested in adding titles than fighting Charlo (35-2-1, 19 KOs).
“Well, my priority is to fight for more titles against Spence, Fundora or Crawford,” Murtazaliev told a small group of reporters and videographers after he dropped the heavily favoured Tszyu four times. “But if we cannot make it happen, then we will choose the best option for us, what will give us more opportunities.”
Fundora (21-1-1, 13 KOs), who owns the WBC and WBO 154-pound titles, is expected to defend at least his WBO belt against Spence (28-1, 22 KOs) sometime early in 2025. The WBO granted Fundora, of Coachella, California, an exemption to face Spence, a former IBF/WBA/WBC welterweight champ from DeSoto, Texas, rather than forcing him to make a mandated defence versus Crawford (41-0, 31 KOs) in his next bout.
Crawford could fight the Fundora-Spence winner later in 2025, yet, like Charlo, the former undisputed welterweight champion wants to move up two more weight classes to challenge Alvarez in what would be a much more marketable event and bigger payday for the Omaha, Nebraska native.
Murtazaliev, meanwhile, punched his way into a higher tax bracket by battering Australia’s Tszyu, an ex-WBO junior middleweight champ who was listed by numerous sportsbooks as an eyebrow-raising 7-1 favourite over the defending champion. Russia’s Murtazaliev, who resides and trains in Glendale, California, nevertheless overwhelmed a reckless and perhaps overconfident Tszyu.
A flush left hook by Murtazaliev first sent Tszyu to the canvas just 39 seconds into the second round. Tszyu, down at that point for the third time in his seven-year pro career, got up quickly and attempted to fight out of what quickly became insurmountable trouble.
The taller, stronger Murtazaliev capitalized on Tszyu’s refusal to hold with any regularity and dropped him twice more during the second round. Tszyu never really recovered and was knocked to the canvas again in the third round.
The Sydney native’s trainer, Igor Goloubev, threw in the towel as a relentless Murtazaliev viciously assaulted Tszyu once the action continued following the fourth knockdown. The official time of referee Christopher Young’s stoppage was 1:55 of the third round.
The 26-year-old Murtazaliev, a devout Muslim, was very respectful toward Tszyu after his career-changing knockout win. He would like to return to the ring as soon as possible because he boxed just 2½ rounds Saturday night, yet that will depend on offers from Al Haymon’s Premier Boxing Champions and Turki Alalshikh, who, as chairman of Saudi Arabia’s General Entertainment Authority, has helped fund numerous high-profile title fights over the past year.
Tom Brown, the primary promoter for PBC, wants to work with Murtazaliev moving forward, but TGB Promotions and, by extension, PBC don’t have contractual options on Murtazaliev. Main Events’ Kathy Duva informed Boxing News, though, that Murtazaliev’s team is thankful for the four six-figure purses PBC paid to Murtazaliev for tune-up fights he won from 2020-23 while waiting four-plus years for his title shot.
Alalshikh, also a devout Muslim, has been in touch with Egis Klimas, Murtazaliev’s manager, regarding having Murtazaliev fight in Riyadh. Crawford’s close working relationship with Alalshikh could make that a fight Alalshikh explores for Murtazaliev.
“I’m just interested in unifying my title,” Murtazaliev said. “I’ll fight any champion there is [available]. I wanna fight a few champions and then move up [to the middleweight] division.”
