IBF junior middleweight champion Bakhram Murtazaliev (23-0, 17 KOs) says Tim Tszyu (24-2, 17 KOs) didn’t expect the left hook that initially hurt him in the second round, doubling the shot. powerful on his third-round TKO win over the former WBO champion Saturday night at the Caribe Royale Resort in Orlando, Florida.
(Photo credit: Joseph Correa/Premier Boxing Champions)
Tszyu never knew what hit him with the first left hook in round two, and it was all downhill from there. He would be the first to admit that he made mistakes by choosing to continue trading with Murtazaliev after the initial takedown in the second.
In hindsight, Tszyu (29) should have boxed after the first takedown and stayed away from Murtazaliev because he repeatedly caught him with left hooks. Tszyu didn’t see those shots coming and was knocked down three times in round 2. That round was a nightmare for Tszyu.
Interestingly, Tszyu didn’t learn his lesson as he was still trading in round three, and his trainer told him before he went out for the round to box.
“That left hook was very powerful, and he didn’t expect it. If you don’t expect it, it’s double impact,” said Bakhram Murtazaliev. media following his third-round TKO victory over Tim Tszyu Saturday night in Orlando.
Tszyu made no adjustments in the fight, and he should have been able to after being dropped three times in round two. His corner told him between rounds not to mix it up with Murtazaliev, but he went out for the third and started throwing bombs almost immediately. Tszyu’s fighting spirit got the better of him tonight.
“In the first round I thought about feeling his power and seeing how hard he hits,” said Murtazaliev. “A lot of people say that they can see my shots, and they’re sloppy, but he hit like that too. So, I could see everything, and I wanted to counter him.”
The way Murtazaliev threw his right hand was sloppy, but his left hook was perfect. This is the weapon he used repeatedly tonight to bring down Tszyu. He dropped Tszyu once in the second round with a short right hand to the side of his head, but other than that it was left hooks that did the damage.
“I’m only interested in unifying my title and fighting any champion there. I want to fight the champions and then move up a division,” Murtazaliev continued. “We didn’t plan anything. If it had ended in the first round, it would have ended then. If it ended in the third round, I didn’t expect anything.”
In a perfect world, Murtazaliev would get the other champions, Terence Crawford and Sebastian Fundora, to agree to fight him. However, this does not seem likely. Crawford is only interested in fighting Fundora and Canelo Alvarez.
After tonight’s performance, Murtazaliev is now the boogeyman at 154, and he will be shunned unless His Excellency Turki Alalshikh offers Crawford and Fundora mega-millions to fight him. In Crawford’s case, it would have been massive money because if he lost the fight, he would never get the Canelo golden parachute retirement day.
“I was ready to go all 12 rounds. Yeah, it wasn’t that hard because it ended so early, and I didn’t get hit that much.
 says Tim Tszyu (24-2, 17 KOs) "didn't expect" the left hook that he hurt him with){kind=link}