Tszyu Set To Face Murtazaliev For IBF Title On October 19th

Tim Tszyu (24-1, 17 KOs) faces IBF junior middleweight champion Bakhram Murtazaliev (22-0, 16 KOs) in a non-PPV event on October 19th on PBC on Prime Video at the Caribe Royale Resort in Orlando, Florida.

Tszyu’s Road Back to Championship Gold

It’s taken Tszyu, 29, longer than expected to challenge for a world title again after losing his WBO 154-lb title last March in a narrow 12-round split decision to Sebastian Fundora. But if Tszyu can capture the IBF title from Murtazaliev, he’ll be back in business.

The Murtazaliev vs. Tszyu event will be shown on PBC on Prime Video Action starting at 8:00 p.m. ET/5:00 p.m. PT. There’s no word yet on who will be on the undercard, but it should be someone interesting for boxing fans to tune in to watch.

Tszyu suffered a cut to the scalp early in his fight against Fundora on March 30th at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. The cut bled so much that it made it difficult for Tszyu to see the punches thrown by the 6’6″ Fundora. In hindsight, Tszyu’s corner should have pulled him out when the bleeding got really bad.

Murtazaliev, 31, recently won the IBF 154-lb belt, stopping Jack Culcay in the 11th round on April 6th at the Stadthalle, Falkensee, Germany.

“At this level, you have to take everyone out, and Bakhram is the next guy standing in my way,” said Tszyu. “The world knows me, and they know what I’m about. I’m thankful to my team for putting me in this position to prove why I’m still the man at 154 pounds. Bakhram has what I want, and I plan to take it from him spectacularly. It’s time to become a two-time world champion.”

Big Fights Await the Winner

If Tszyu can win the IBF title, he will be able to fight Fundora, Israil Madrimov, Errol Spence, Terence Crawford, Vergil Ortiz Jr., and Serhii Bohachuk. Fighting in one of His Excellency Turki Alalshikh’s events in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, would be ideal for Tszyu, especially if he could face Crawford, Spence, or Vergil.