The top fighters at 154, Vergil Ortiz Jr. and Terence Crawford have shown no interest in facing IBF junior middleweight champion Bakhram Murtazaliev after his third-round knockout win against Tim Tszyu on October 19th.
Ortiz Jr. Stays Silent
Surprisingly, Murtazaliev’s name wasn’t mentioned as even a backup option for Ortiz Jr. to fight on the February 22nd card in Riyadh. Instead of Murtazaliev being one of the options for Vergil, Xander Zayas, and Erislandy Lara were in the running before Israil Madrimov was ultimately selected.
We don’t know if Madrimov will be able to make the February 22nd date because he has a tough fight this month against Serghii Bohachuk on December 21st. Why hasn’t Murtazaliev’s name been floated as a potential replacement for Ortiz Jr. to fight if Madrimov can’t make it?
That performance by Murtazaliev (23-0, 17 KOs) may have scared off Vergil Jr., Crawford, and unified WBC and WBO 154-lb champion Sebastian Fundora. The way Murtazaliev sliced through the former WBO champion Tszyu, knocking him down three times in round two and a final time in the third, was reminiscent of how a young 24-year-old George Foreman destroyed Joe Frazier in two rounds on January 22nd, 1973.
At 154, Murtazaliev has become part of the untouchable class, with none of the top dogs wanting to mix it up with him for fear of ending up in the same boat as poor Tszyu.
It’s pretty obvious that Murtazaliev has Crawford, Fundora, and Vergil Ortiz Jr. running scared of fighting him because they know what could happen to them if they fight him. No one wants to end up like Tim Tszyu, blasted to eternity and career in the dumps. Poor Tszyu is likely not coming back. Let’s face it: it’s over for him.
Murtazaliev and his team need to wake up and smell the coffee. He’s going to be avoided by all the top fighters now, and it’s going to stay that way until he ages out. His best option is to move up to 160 and look to set up fights with Erislandy Lara, Carlos Adames, and Janibek Alimkhanuly. Those are fights that Murtazaliev, 31, would be better off taking now rather than waiting until he’s older before taking them.
