Tim Tszyu’s promoter, George Rose, states that Tim’s immediate goal is to capture the IBF 154-lb title from Bakhram Murtazaliev before moving on to unification fights against the other champions.
IBF Title Bout Set for October 19th
Tszyu (24-1, 17 KOs) and Murtazaliev reportedly fight on October 19th. This will be Tszyu’s first fight since being dethroned of his WBO junior middleweight title by Sebastian Fundora on March 30th in Las Vegas.
Tim had been scheduled to fight Vergil Ortiz Jr. on August 3rd on the undercard of Terence Crawford vs. Israil Madrimov in Los Angeles, but those plans were canceled due to Tszyu’s cut still not being fully healed from his March 30th clash against Fundora.
That was a missed opportunity for Tszyu because if he’d beaten Vergil Jr., he’d be able to fight Crawford or challenge Fundora in a rematch for his WBC and WBO 154-lb titles.
“We’re going to fight for an IBF world title,” said Promoter George Rose. “Terence Crawford doesn’t own that. That belongs to Bakhram Murtazaliev. We’ll be winning that world title. Then we’ve got another piece of jewelry for Tim, and we’ll be looking at what the next opportunities are for him.
“[Alalshikh is] pushing Terence Crawford’s case. Terence is his Riyadh Season ambassador, and he wants what’s best for Terence Crawford.”
It’s unclear if Rose feels that His Excellency Turki Alalshikh would steer Crawford away from Tszyu if he captures the IBF title. That’s the key to Tszyu getting a lucrative fight against Crawford because his value has been tarnished due to his twelve-round split decision defeat against Fundora.
Crawford: A Future Target
Winning the IBF title will help Tszyu negotiate a future fight against Crawford if he can keep winning. It’s hard to predict the soon-to-be 37-year-old Crawford’s future because he barely scraped by with a win over WBA junior middleweight champion Israil Madrimov in his debut at 154, and he could have lost that fight if the champ had let his hands go more.
Crawford’s power didn’t carry up from 147 to 154, and he will have problems in future fights in the division, especially if he sits out of the ring for a year like he’s been doing, fighting annually since 2020.
“He’s a guy we would love to talk to in the future, but right now, we’re focused on Bakhram,” said Rose about wanting to make a future fight between Crawford and Tszyu. “He’ll never be the king of the division if he doesn’t fight Tim Tszyu. Tim Tszyu is the king of the division.”
