Erickson Lubin Wants Murtazaliev Next

Erickson Lubin says he wants to challenge IBF junior middleweight champion Bakhram Murtazaliev next. The #3 ranked Lubin (28-2, 16 KOs) revealed that Tim Tszyu already had plans to fight him next if he’d beaten Murtazaliev (23-0, 17 KOs) last Saturday night, but with him losing by a third-round TKO, that fight is no longer happening. Lubin says he’ll now move on and face Murtazaliev next.

Lubin Wants Title Shot

Unless the IBF orders the fight, this will be a voluntary defense for Murtazaliev, who said last Saturday that he wanted to fight unification matches. If he can’t get any of the champions to fight him, he might be open to defending against Lubin.

Lubin has won his last two fights against Jesus Ramos and Luis Arias since being stopped by Sebastian Fundora in the ninth round two years ago, on April 9, 2022. Erickson’s 12-round unanimous decision win over Ramos was a minor upset, as a lot of people thought he would lose that fight. The scores were 117-111, 116-112 and 115-113.

The 29-year-old Lubin has been inactive for 13 months since his win over Ramos on September 30th last year. He says he doesn’t like taking tune-ups. So, if Lubin does face Murtazaliev next, he’d be coming off a long layoff to face one of the most dangerous fighters in the 154-lb division.

“It was exciting from the opening bell. Tim Tszyu got caught, and he couldn’t recover,” said Erickson Lubin to Thaboxingvoice, talking about last Saturday night’s fight between Tim Tszyu and IBF junior middleweight champion Bakhram Murtazaliev.

“Nah, I had my money on Tim Tszyu,” said Lubin when asked if he expected that outcome. “He was a champion already. So if Tim had beaten him, me and Tim, we already had something planned. But now we got to move on and try to get this Russian dude [Murtazaliev].”

Tune-ups Not Needed

Lubin must be confident to want to take on Murtazaliev, but he might live to regret it. This is not Jesus Ramos or Luis Arias that he’ll be facing. Moreover, Murtazaliev is a much bigger puncher than the 6’6″ Sebastian Fundora, who dished out a severe beating of Lubin, transforming his face into a lion-esque look. His face looked nothing like what it had at the start of the fight.

“Nah, I don’t even like tune-ups. I’ll get in there with him,” said Lubin about him being ready to challenge Murtazaliev for his IBF belt next.