Tszyu’s Fight Strategy Against Murtazaliev Criticized

Commentator Shawn Porter believes that Tim Tszyu (24-2, 17 KOs) came into his fight against IBF junior middleweight champion Bakhram Murtazliev (23-0, 17 KOs) with an “arrogant” mindset, which led to his quick exit, losing by a third-round knockout on Saturday night at the Caribe Royale Resort in Orlando, Florida.

Porter had picked the former WBO junior middleweight champion Tszyu to win the fight, but his prediction was completely wrong. Tszyu should have boxed and moved around the ring rather than mixing it up with the big puncher Murtazliev. However, Porter admits Tszyu hasn’t gotten this far in his eight-year professional career by being a boxer.

Tszyu has always been a one-dimensional fighter, depending 100% on his power and ability to stalk his prey. Last night, he ran into a fighter with more power, size, and skills than him in his four-knockdown, third-round TKO loss to Murtazaliev in their main event clash on Premier Boxing Champions on Amazon Prime Video. Tszyu got exposed. That’s basically what happened.

Could Tszyu Have Won If He Boxed?

• Switching Styles: It would have been difficult for him to switch to a plan B when things went downhill in the second round. Against Murtazaliev, Tszyu wouldn’t have been able to escape his pressure even if he had moved and boxed the way Porter felt he should have. Tszyu would have had to work on switching to a boxing approach, and it’s doubtful he did that.
• Power Advantage: Tszyu choosing to move and move still wouldn’t have helped him take the hard punches that Murtazaliev would be hitting him with. Those shots were brutal, and he showed knockout power with both hands. Going into the fight, the focus was on Murtzaliev’s right hand, but his left did most of the damage last night. Tszyu couldn’t take the left hooks, which appeared equally as powerful as the rights he was hitting him with.
• Using Jab: Had Tszyu used his jab, it’s doubtful that he could have succeeded in keeping Murtazaliev off with this tool because he was a jab of his own and had the reach advantage. He caught Tszyu with his jab, snapping his head back, and tagged him with his left hooks.

“They shouldn’t have tried to fight fire with fire. That’s his style. I get that, but I feel like moving and turning was the right thing to do. You put that on coaching,” said Shawn Porter to FOX Sports Australia, discussing the aftermath of Tim Tszyu’s TKO loss to Bakhram Murtaliev last Saturday night. “As far as getting back to world contention, I’m not sure. When you’ve been at the top, you’re a step away from getting back.”

Porter feels that Tszyu can get right back at the top with one win against a top-level fighter, but he doesn’t say who that guy would be. At this point, it would be highly challenging for Tszyu to defeat one of these killers at 154:

– Serhii Bohachuk
– Israil Madrimov
– Vergil Ortiz Jr.
– Terence Crawford

Those fighters have skills and power and would take advantage of the same flaws in Tszyu’s game that Murtazaliev exposed last Saturday night. Tszyu’s promoters would be insane to try and match him against any of those guys, even if he begged them to.

Tim Must Return to the Domestic Level

Tszyu will probably return home to Australia in his next fight and be matched against domestic-level fighter Michael Zerafa to rebuild his shattered confidence. That’s still not a gimme for Tszyu because Zerafa can punch, and if there are any remnants from his loss to Murtazaliev there, he’ll take advantage of that.

Tszyu will have to take an ego hit returning to fighting at the Aussie level, but he’s now failed in his attempts to fight at the world level. It would be pointless for him to continue fighting top-tier opposition and wind up in the journeyman circuit within two or three years of repeated losses.