Tim Tszyu posted a message to the fans on social media today, saying that he will get back to being in big fights despite losing to IBF junior middleweight champion Bakhram Murtazaliev (23-0, 17 KOs) by third round knockout . Saturday night in Orlando, Florida.
Tszyu says he will seek answers from his team for what went wrong in his loss to Murtazaliev. Tim’s defense let him down in that fight, and he made a mistake by continuing to attack Murtazaliev rather than box him after the initial takedown.
When Tszyu (24-2, 17 KOs) explained what happened, he said he was caught with a punch and couldn’t recover from it. He kept getting up, but wasn’t going to work.
Murtazaliev initially floored former WBO 154-lb champion Tszyu with a left hook during an exchange in round two. That was where things fell apart for the 29-year-old Tszyu as he never recovered from that shot. What chance Tszyu had to come back, he threw it away by going on the attack and trying to slug it out with Murtazaliev.
“I was caught with a shot, and I couldn’t move on. I kept getting up, but it wasn’t good enough,” said Tim Tszyu. reflect on his loss to IBF junior middleweight champion Bakhram Murtazaliev last Saturday night in Orlando.
Tszyu and his team need to make the right move for his next fight as he has now lost his last two bouts. He lost to Sebastian Fundora earlier this year via a 12-round split decision on March 30, but fans gave him a pass for that loss due to a bad cut he suffered in round two.
The loss to Murtazaliev was a different story. The IBF champion completely blew Tszyu out, knocking him down four times in the fight before his corner threw in the towel in the third round.
“Congratulations to my opponent for the tremendous performance. Yes, we will move on, regroup, and my team will be back,” Tszyu said. “Again, I’ll be back. Soon I will still be in big fights, and of course I have to get a lot of answers from myself.”
It will be very difficult for Tszyu to rebuild himself after the latest defeat because many of the top fighters in the 154-lb division will expose his flaws in the fight. Even the younger fighters like Yoenis Tellez would benefit from what Murtazaliev exposed.
“The most important thing my father (Kostya Tszyu) told me from a young age: ‘Never give up.’ If you shoot for the stars and crash and burn on the way, just keep going.’ I’m going to keep going and keep reaching for those stars,” Tim said.
Tszyu may have to swallow his pride and return to fighting for domestic position in Australia rather than stay at world level and continue to suffer defeats. These are some good options for Tszyu’s next fight: Michael Zerafa and Steve Spark.
