Bakhram Murtzaliev spent years waiting for a shot at the IBF junior middleweight championship before finally winning the title in April. On Saturday night, he defeated Tim Tszyu for a third-round TKO in his first title defense in a statement win.
Tszyu entered as a clear favorite according to the gambling odds, but the fight had every chance of turning into a firefight between two aggressively aggressive fighters. Tszyu was willing to play that game with the champion but it proved to be his demise as Murtzaliev was able to land his shots faster and with more impact.
As the fighters traded big shots in the second round, Murtzaliev landed a left hook that dropped Czyu to the canvas. A straight left moments later landed Tszyu for the second knockdown of the round and then a right hand for the third time.
Tszyu was saved by Bell after the third knockdown and was examined by a doctor before the start of the third and allowed to continue. Moments later, Tszyu was dropped by another huge left hook. To his credit, Tszyu got back to his feet, getting a warning from the referee that another knockdown would stop.
Murtzaliev continued to pound, until Tsoor’s corner threw in the towel, ending the bout at the 1:55 mark of round 3.
With the win, Murtzaliev confirmed that he was the beneficiary of more than four world titles being stripped from Jermael Charlo, and opened the way for Murtzaliev to get his long-overdue championship opportunity against Jack Kulkay. In that fight, Murtzaliev was fighting a fast for Kulkey alongside Ramadan and needed a late comeback stoppage to win the belt.
On Saturday, Murtzaliev was at full strength and he ran through Czyu, who has been looking to bounce back since losing his WBO title to Sebastian Fundora in a fight in March.
“Every time I step into the ring, I’m willing to die here,” Tszyu said after the fight. “Things didn’t go as planned and the better man won tonight. There are no excuses. I tried my best. It’s not about being perfect, so you live and learn. … I think it was after the first shot that things went according to plan. No, you were hurt and your reactions were too slow to win tonight.”
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