Canelo vs. Crawford Undercard needs Bakhram Murtazaliev vs. Erickson Lubin: The title Fight Boxing fans earn

Bakhram Murtazaliev, a junior middleweight champion from IBF, says no one wants to organize his IBF-ordered title defense against Erickson Lubin.

For this struggle to happen, PBC will need a few dates to designate it, and a big headlist to fit with it. Murtazaliev-Clubin is not a big enough battle on its own to be an important attraction.

Canelo-Crawford Undercard needs Bakhram

For which Murtazaliev and Lubin need Turki Alalshikh to realize and add it to one of his Riyadh season cards. Even if their battle is buried on one of the cards, it will be made anyway.

The ideal place is at the Canelo Alvarez against Terence Crawford card on September 13. It is an event that is completely without quality on the bottom map. It is essentially the main event, packed with a bottom map.

Adding Murtazaliev-Clubin to the event would be an immediate improvement, perhaps even the most important event in terms of entertainment value for fans. You may think that Murtazaliev and Lubin are going to war. We already know that Crawford is going to box Canelo and borrow from the Mayweather Playbook. Bakhram against Lubin would save the day.

Brother @Ericksonhammerl No one wants to organize our struggle? 🤣

– Bakhram Murtazaliev (@Bakhram95) August 5, 2025

The unbeaten Bakkhram (23-0, 17 COs) has had bad luck since knocking out former WBO 154-pound champion Tim Tszyu last October. He has a hand injury and attack against Josh Kelly and Vergil Ortiz Jr. Now it is a broadcasting issue that delays Murtazaliev’s title defense against Lubin (27-2, 19 COs).

Why Bakhram Murtazaliev is avoided

The reputation that Bakhram developed as the Boogeyman of the 154 pound division is another reason why he failed to use his victory over Tszyu. The way he destroyed Tim is intimidating to the other top fighters. None of the big names wanted to fight against him.

It seems that Murtazaliev will sit for more than a year before finally fighting. In October it has been a year since his win over Tszyu. At this pace, Bakhram can be happy if he fights at all in 2026.

Lubin can’t be happy about this. He returned to the IBF-sheltered position by winning his last three fights after being stopped in the ninth round by Sebastian Fundora in 2022. The fight was a major setback for Erickson, as he returned from his embarrassment in the first round to Jermell Charlo in 2017, and won his last six fights before the defeat to Fundora.