Tim Tszyu believes his opponent, IBF junior middleweight champion Bakhram Murtazaliev, could be overwhelmed by the moment of being in the spotlight for the first time in their fight this Saturday, October 19, at the Caribe Royale Resort in Orlando, Florida. Tszyu (24-1, 17 KOs) is trying to make Murtazaliev (22-0, 16 KOs) question himself so he won’t be at his best on Saturday, because he shouldn’t be.
(Credit: Joseph Correa/Premier Boxing Champions)
Tszyu lost his last fight against Sebastian Fundora on March 30, and he enters this match with many doubts about his career. He is in a must-win situation against Murtazaliev because if he loses, those money fights he dreamed of getting could be gone forever.
“I think he’s not used to this spotlight,” Tim Tszyu said Jai McAllisterabout his belief that Bakhram Murtazaliev had never been in a pressure situation like this. “I feel like a lion. A Leo goes through many battles in their life, and no matter what, they come out on top.
“If it pays, why not, and we have unfinished business?” Tszyu said when asked if he would be interested in fighting the inactive former WBA and WBC welterweight champion. Keith Thurmanwho hasn’t fought in nearly three years, and turns 36 on November 23rd.
Thurman will have been inactive for three years in February, and whatever popularity he had many years ago has waned. He has only fought four times in the past seven years since 2017. While some of that is injury-related, a lot of it has to do with just a lack of ambition to keep his career going. It would be risky for Tszyu to agree to a fight against Thurman, as he may not make it through training camp without suffering an injury related to his age and physical decline.
“Xander? I didn’t have my eyes on him at all. I was kind of chasing the big dogs right now,” Tszyu said when told that undefeated #3 WBC Xander Zayas said he wanted to fight him.
The top-ranked promoted Zayas looked weak in his recent fight against Damian Sosa on September 28th. Zayas is not well known enough among fans and has no punching power to make a fight between him and Tszyu worth watching for fans. Top Rank will have to figure out what they’re going to do with him because he and a few other of their notable guys aren’t going anywhere.
“Catch him when he’s off guard,” Tszyu said of his prediction for his fight against Murtazaliev on Saturday night. “I think he understood a long time ago. I think he dreamed about this fight and thought about it. I think he thought it too much. In all honesty, I didn’t think much about the fight. When it comes to fighting, I know when to put it on. I have other things.”
Tszyu constantly denying that he had thought about his fight against Murtazaliev is a sign that if he were to admit that he had thought about the bout, it would be seen as a weakness on his part. So, he tries to project power by acting nonchalant about the fight because it’s just an easy walk in the park.
“This fight is very important for both guys. Should Murtazaliev win this fight, I think he will go to a high level. He’s taking a big leap to fight the best dogs out there,” said Shawn Porter Jai McAllister about Saturday’s fight between IBF junior middleweight champion Bakhram Murtazaliev and Tim Tszyu.
If Murtazaliev looks like 24k gold beating Tszyu, he still might not get “the top dogs” in the 154-lb division to fight him because it would be a high-risk, low-reward situation have. This is the reason why Murtazaliev was invisible for his entire 10-year professional career. He was too dangerous for his own good and not promoted by one of the major American or British promoters who could get him fights.
“For Tim, it’s about reclaiming where he was before. He was top three. Now he goes to the top one or two in the division (if he prevails against Murtazaliev). He has the loss to Fundora, so we have to take that into account and show respect for that,” Porter said.
Shawn isn’t saying who his top three are at 154, but it sounds silly for him to potentially put Tszyu in the top one or two in the division if he prevails against Murtazaliev. If Tszyu wins on Saturday, he will still have to beat these fighters to take the #1 spot in the 154-lb division:
- Terence Crawford
- Sebastian Fundora
- Vergil Ortiz Jr.
- Serhii Bohachuk
- Israel Madrimov
- Charles Conwell
- Errol Spence
Regardless of how good he looks against Murtazaliev on Saturday, I could see Tszyu losing to four or five of those fighters. Even one of the bottoms, Madrimov, Conwell and Spence, can beat Tszyu.
“For Tim, his projection remains steady. For Murtazaliev, it goes up very quickly. So, for him, he just has to stay steady. Steady wins the race for Tim. So, I think he’s going to do it,” says Porter.
Shawn Porter has been repeatedly wrong with his predictions lately. So, that should eliminate him and the Tszyu vs. Murtazaliev match considered a toss-up. Given Tszyu’s recent loss to Sebastian Fundora, I would give the edge to Murtazaliev in this fight.
He is the better puncher, more talented combo puncher, and still undefeated. He catches Tszyu at the right moment in his career, and he’s still licking his mental wounds from his loss last March.
