Bakhram Murtazaliev’s trainer Roma Kalantaryan doubts Terence Crawford will want to fight Bakhram because he is chasing big money fights against the unified super middleweight champion.
Crawford will not fight Murtazaliev
Roma thinks Crawford won’t want to face Murtazaliev (23-0, 17 KOs). He does feel that it would be an entertaining fight for fans, a big guy with power taking on a smaller, highly technical fighter.
Had Crawford not had such a tough time in his debut at 154 against WBA junior middleweight champion Israil Madrimov on August 3, he would be willing to fight Murtazaliev. But with the problems Crawford had against Madrimov, barely winning, he’ll probably never agree to fight him until he retires.
He must know that 154 is not one he is suited for, and of course, neither is 168. Obviously, the goal of Crawford moving up to 168 is money, and it’s not a big deal if he loses.
Fighting Murtazaliev will be a hardship for Crawford because he doesn’t have the power to fight someone like that without taking a lot of damage.
Murtazaliev’s size and strength advantage
“After a fight like this, I’d like him to fight Terence Crawford, but I don’t see Crawford fighting him. That battle will look very good,” said coach Roma Kalantaryan On The Ropes Podcast about a fight he wants for IBF junior middleweight champion Bakhram Murtazaliev.
“That fight is going to look like a big man (Murtazaliev) fighting a very small man (Crawford). A big, powerful puncher fighting a very lean, technical guy, and it’s going to be a crazy fight. The way I see Terence Crawford. He’s after the big money now, and I don’t know if that’s going to happen. I hope it happens, but I don’t know,” Roma said.
Crawford will look very small in the ring with Murtazaliev, and he will also give away a lot of punch. It will be a very dominant fight for the 37-year-old Crawford, who doesn’t move as well as he used to and wouldn’t be able to beat Murtazaliev by jabbing and countering.
“On the other hand you have Fundora and Spence. That fight could actually happen because Fundora beat Tszyu by split decision. Spence is coming off a loss, and he hasn’t been active in so long. So, I think that fight makes a lot more sense because Crawford is fighting Crawford. He’s chasing the big bucks. We all know what he’s chasing,” Roma said.
Fundora or Spence will only fight Murtazaliev if it’s the best available option for a nice payday. His excellent Turki Alalshikh could choose to beat the winner of the December 21st fight between Israil Madrimov vs. Serhii Bohachuk vs. the Spence-Fundora winner. Both have already fought at Turki’s Riyadh season events.
“We’ll see. I hope we get one of the two as long as they give me enough time to prepare for this fight. We have enough time to prepare. We’re going to be ready no matter who comes in,” Roma said.
Spence or Fundora would be willing to fight Murtazaliev if they were paid enough by one of the promoters. PBC is not going to pay them huge amounts of guaranteed money for a fight against Murtazaliev. It would require His Excellency Turki Alalshikh to finance a fight involving Murtazaliev against one of them.
“We had 10 fights at 160 earlier in his career, and every one of them ended early,” Roma said of Murtazaliev, who fought at middleweight earlier in his career. He knocked every one of them out.”
Murtazaliev should be ready to move up to 160 if he can’t get a fight against Crawford and the winner of the Spence vs. Fundora fight. The last thing Murtazaliev needs is to be stuck at 154, avoided like the plague, and stuck making defenses against fighters the fans aren’t familiar with.
The options at 160
Janibek Alimkhanuly
Erislandy Lara
Carlos Adams
Hamzah Sheeraz
Chris Eubank Jr.
Most of those fighters would likely turn down a fight against Murtazaliev, but not all. Some will agree to fight him.
