Commentator Shawn Porter believes Tim Tszyu (24-2, 17 KOs) came into his fight against IBF junior middleweight champion Bakhram Murtazliev (23-0, 17 KOs) with an “arrogant” attitude, which led to his quick exit , and lost by third-round knockout Saturday night at the Caribe Royale Resort in Orlando, Florida.
Porter picked former WBO junior middleweight champion Tszyu to win the fight, but his prediction was completely wrong. Tszyu should have boxed and moved around the ring rather than mixing it up with the big punching Murtazliev. However, Porter admits Tszyu didn’t get that far in his eight-year professional career by being a boxer.
Tszyu has always been a one-dimensional fighter, relying 100% on his strength and ability to stalk his prey. Last night, he ran into a fighter with more power, size and skill than him in his four-knockout, third-round TKO loss to Murtazaliev in their main event on Premier Boxing Champions on Amazon Prime Video. Tszyu was exposed. This is basically what happened.
Could Tszyu have won if he boxed?
- Switch styles: It would have been difficult for him to switch to a plan B when things went downhill in the second round. Against Murtazaliev, Tszyu would not be able to escape his pressure, even if he moved and boxed as Porter felt he had to. Tszyu would need to work on transitioning to a boxing approach, and it’s doubtful he did.
- Power Advantage: Tszyu’s choice to move and move still wouldn’t have helped him take the hard punches Murtazaliev would hit him with. Those shots were brutal, and he showed knockout power with both hands. In the fight, the focus was on Murtzaliev’s right hand, but his left hand did most of the damage last night. Tszyu couldn’t take the left hooks, which looked just as powerful as the rights he hit him with.
- Use Jab: If Tszyu had used his jab, it is doubtful that he would have succeeded in stopping Murtazaliev with this tool, as he was a jab of his own and had the reach advantage. He caught Tszyu with his jab, snapped his head back and tagged him with his left hooks.
“They should not have tried to fight fire with fire. That’s his style. I get it, but I feel like moving and turning was the right thing to do. You put it on coaching,” Shawn Porter said FOX Sports Australiadiscussing the aftermath of Tim Tszyu’s TKO loss to Bakhram Murtaliev last Saturday night. “As for me returning to world wrestling, I’m not sure. When you’ve been to the top, you’re one step away from coming back.”
Porter feels that Tszyu can get right back on top with one win against a top-level fighter, but he isn’t saying who that guy would be. At this point, it would be very challenging for Tszyu to defeat one of these killers at 154:
– Serhii Bohachuk
– Israel Madrimov
– Vergil Ortiz Jr.
– Terence Crawford
Those fighters have skill and power and will take advantage of the same flaws in Tszyu’s game that Murtazaliev exposed last Saturday night. Tszyu’s promoters would be insane to try to match him up against any of those guys, even if he begged them to.
Tim must return to the domestic level
Tszyu is likely to return to Australia in his next fight and be matched against domestic fighter Michael Zerafa to rebuild his broken confidence. It’s still not a gimme for Tszyu, as Zerafa can punch, and if there’s any leftovers from his loss to Murtazaliev, he’ll take advantage of it.
Tszyu will have to take an ego hit to return to fighting at Aussie level, but he has now failed in his attempts to fight at world level. It would be pointless for him to continue to fight the top level opposition and end up in the artisan ring within two or three years of repeated losses.
 came into his fight against IBF junior middleweight champion Bakhram Murtazliev (23-0, 17 KOs)){kind=link}