Undefeated Russian planning move through the weights after Saturday title defence.
It wasn’t long ago that people in the boxing world would have heard the name ‘Bakhram Murtazaliev’ and looked at you quizzically, for even when he was the IBF super-welterweight champion of the world, Murtazaliev wasn’t too well-known.
His stoppage over Jack Culcay to win the vacant title in April of 2024 didn’t turn too many heads. Indeed, it was on a German show in Germany, so it wouldn’t have made much of a splash in the right parts of the globe.
And even if it had, there wasn’t much to suggest that anything special had occurred. Jack Culcay was a decent, but limited, fighter with losses to the likes of Sergiy Derevyanchenko and Maciej Sulecki. His best win (a decision over current world champion Abass Baraou) has aged very well, but didn’t seem to mean much at the time.
And Bakhram Murtazaliev was 21-0, but his best win to that point was a decision over Roberto Valenzuela Jr., with not much else of note on his résumé.
So, maybe that’s why Tim Tszyu didn’t see much to worry about when he chose to fight him six months later. And as a result, he was dropped four times and stopped in three rounds.
All at once, everyone sat up and began to pay attention.
And despite the fact Murtazaliev hasn’t fought since then, that performance has had a lasting impact. It’s why so many are picking him to demolish Josh Kelly in Newcastle this Saturday.
And in an interview with BoxingScene, Murtazaliev has spoken about what he’ll do after the fight, saying through a translator, “But I think for him [Murtazaliev] right now, if there won’t be any changes [in getting unification fights], he [Murtazaliev] might go down or go up to be a world champion in–maybe–different divisions.”
Many fans have doubted Murtazaliev’s ability to move down to welterweight, with some noting that he looks to be struggling to make the super-welterweight limit. How true this is may be revealed on Saturday night.
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