Bakhram Murtazaliev enters the spotlight

By: Sean Crose

Although he was in possession of the IBF junior middleweight title belt, Bakhram Murtazaliev was not a well known or highly regarded figure heading into last weekend. That all changed on Saturday night when the now 23-0 fighter battered the popular and well respected Tim Tszyu at the Caribe Royale in Orlando, Florida. Murtazaliev, though not entirely written off beforehand, was certainly the B-side attraction of Saturday’s bout. Tszyu was not only favored to win, he was expected to move on to bigger things – perhaps even facing the great Terence Crawford. How surprising, then, that Saturday’s fight wasn’t at all competitive.

Murtazaliev dropped the gutsy Tszyu four times – that’s four times – in the second and third rounds. Knowing it was largely futile to allow their man to continue, team Tszyu wisely threw in the towel and stopped the fight. Unlike some fighters, who argue they should be allowed to continue in such a situation Tszyu openly admitted that he had been bested. “I’ve got no excuses,” he claimed after the bout. “You live and you learn, right?” Indeed. Tszyu wasn’t the only one to get schooled this past weekend, for the world got to learn just how dominant a force Murtazaliev can be.

Tszyu, after all, is a rugged fighter, a true warrior with speed and heavy hands, to boot. On Saturday, however, even Tszyu’s power shots didn’t appear that powerful – at least not when they landed on Murtazaliev. The defending champion, on the other hand, hammered away at his man, leading Tszyu to at times stumble across the ring as if he were a vaudeville drunk. Make no mistake about it, Tszyu is as tough and competitive as they come come. Yet, when the action was stopped in the beginning of the third so the ring doctor could take a look at him, Tszyu wore an expression of deflation. It was as if he knew he would only take further damage should the fight continue.

The bout did indeed continue, and to his everlasting credit Tszyu kept fighting, getting up when he hit the mat and battling the defending champion the best he could. This was a night, however, where heart and soul simply weren’t enough to ring in a victory. The missiles Murtazaliev was firing off at his opponent were. And that’s why this is now Murtazaliev’s time in the spotlight – deservedly so. It will be interesting to see whether or not Saturday night was a showcase of Murtazaliev at his peak – or if there’s a lot more to come from the now lauded titlist.