Bakhram Murtazaliev hands Tim Tszyu a brutal reality check

It was a precursor to his demise, that sense of arrogance, that talk of his opponent being nothing more than a step-aside fighter. Tim Tszyu had his reasons for this belief, but it backfired on him. Bakhram Murtazaliev represented a challenge that Tszyu, the former unified junior middleweight champion, had never encountered but thought it would be another night in the office, a “tune-up” fight immediately following a controversial defeat. After winning an IBF elimination bout in November 2019, Murtazaliev accepted step-aside fees four times and additional stay-busy fights for purses that surpassed seven figures combined. While that was ridiculed across the sport, he continued to hone his craft in the gym, while his future nemesis continued to be infatuated with himself. The real ones knew Murtazaliev was powerful, quick, intelligent, unrelenting, yet untested. They warned us not to count him out. And Murtazaliev, too. “If [I] connect, he will be going down for sure,” he stated through an interpreter to YouTuber Jai McAllister. But Tszyu, conversely, possessing a style romanticized by toughness, grit, and strength, paid no heed to the warning.

Boxing delivers its reality checks with brutal conclusiveness. Tszyu, the man whose legion of supporters believed he was without peer at 154-pounds, was served up a Russian buzzsaw pirozhiki. It was a beatdown of the highest order in the pair’s IBF junior middleweight world title fight Sunday night in Orlando on Amazon Prime Video.

The fight was considered a massive step up for Murtazaliev (23-0), but instead, it was an enormous setback for Tszyu’s boxing career, left in tatters after being utterly humiliated within three rounds. In the first fight attended by his Hall of Fame father, Kostya, since his professional debut in 2016, Tszyu (24-2) was knocked down three times in an ugly second-round blitzkrieg, one that showcased both the devastating power of Murtazaliev’s left hook and the brutal exposé of Tszyu’s defensive deficiencies. The Australian had been knocked down at this level before, once by Terrell Gausha, but never had he been hurt, let alone sustained a vicious beating. After a fourth knockdown, Tszyu’s uncle and trainer, Igor Goloubevk, threw in the towel to finally stop the madness in what can only be described as a life-altering defeat.

Boxing is such an unforgiving sport. For the first 24 bouts of his professional career, Tim Tszyu was known as “The Soul Taker,” a fighter who had a remarkable 2023 campaign, with electrifying performances against the likes of Tony Harrison (TKO 9), Carlos Ocampo (KO 1), and Brian Mendoza (UD 12), who was coming off the most impressive stretch of his career as well, including a brutal knockout of then-unbeaten world title contender Sebastian Fundora. Ironically, it would be Fundora who would eventually kickstart the Tszyu collapse. In the second round of their contest, Tszyu suffered a horrifying gash on his forehead due to an accidental elbow from Fundora. Blood streamed down Tszyu’s face and into his eyes for the remainder of the fight. The ringside doctor threatened to stop the fight the following round but allowed the bout to continue. Tszyu, who came into the fight as the WBO 154-pound titleholder, never complained and never stopped pushing forward to try and win the fight. Ultimately, he lost a split decision, his belt, and his unbeaten record. But the loss? It was a fluke to some.

But Murtazaliev beat the brakes off Tszyu, and what’s even more astounding is that the latter had his moments, though barely noticeable, while the doughty Russian rearranged his cerebrum. Compubox credited Murtazaliev with 67 landed punches to Tszyu’s 37, but the difference was in the power punch department, where Murtazaliev led 50 to 25. Tszyu wasn’t his methodical self. From pressing sooner than he usually would—likely out of panic because he was getting touched hard and early—to fighting with reckless abandon, he was entirely out of sorts, which raises one fundamental question. Just who thought Murtazaliev was some average Joe step-aside fighter?

This has to be one of the worst mistakes made at this level in quite some time. The notion that Murtazaliev was no threat proved nonsense from the opening bell as he worked Tszyu with the jab just moments into the fight, changing levels effectively and connecting with solid counters to the head when Tszyu dropped his right hand. Moments later, Tszyu’s run at the top was in peril, but it wasn’t from what landed, but what didn’t land instead. After Murtazaliev’s tight guard blocked an overhand right from Tszyu, both fighters bumped heads on the inside. Tszyu immediately pulled away while evading a left hand and pawed at his forehead multiple times to check for blood. Shades of Fundora, demonstrating that the psychological scars from their bloody March bout were coterminous with Tszyu’s mindset.

They resumed their recitation of Rock’ Em Sock’ Em Robots from the start of the round when Tszyu found the target with a pair of right hands. He was then immediately met with a quick left to the head and a left hook to the body from Murtazaliev, which, by all accounts, was a warning sign. What you throw will be met with resistance. The adjuration was ignored; Tszyu had run out of mulligans this time. A counter left hand from Murtazaliev put him on the deck for the second time in his professional career. When he rose to his feet, Tszyu remained frangible. Not known for fighting on the back foot, he did what he only knew how to do: fight, and Tszyu paid the price. Twice more, he was floored, once by a left and again by a counter right hand, and twice more, he repeated the same mistakes and put himself back into a state of precariousness. The fight was all but over. The only thing Tszyu had going for him at this point was being the most resolute receiver of pugilistic punishment, which, in the grand scheme of things, is nothing to be happy about. But for Murtazaliev, it was a holiday feast. Finally, someone with common sense, that being Goloubevk, threw in the towel to prevent Tszyu from the inevitability of sustaining life-altering damage.

Tszyu was the latest victim in Murtazaliev’s divergent ascent. His path to becoming a champion was somewhat reminiscent of Terence ‘Bud’ Crawford’s route to his long-awaited showdown with Errol Spence Jr. in July 2023. Critics did their best to discredit Crawford by attacking his résumé. They said Spence had fought the better opposition and had stronger pay-per-view sales. While true, Crawford wasn’t afforded an opportunity at these marquee bouts despite already being an established champion, a four-division champion at that. Crawford waited six years to shut up the haters, and Murtazaliev had to listen to the same critics while he waited four years to fight for a world title, which he successfully won in April with an 11th-round knockout of perennial contender Jack Culcay. Tszyu was his first defense, but hardly a soul gave him a chance of winning. Why? Once again, the résumé effect. Tszyu had fought the better guys. No one paid attention to Murtazaliev’s skill nor questioned why he was frozen out all these years. It’s not that hard. No one wanted to fight him. The risk was too high, and the reward was too low, but one guy was willing to take on the challenge, Tszyu, which speaks volumes about his heart and courage. But it was that same intestinal fortitude that also provided him the worst beating of his life.

Always be reticent of the insouciant fighters, for they tend to have more to prove. Murtazaliev made his point—he's no step-aside fighter and no longer waiting for anyone. It's time to make some real fights. A collision with Vergil Ortiz Jr. seems inevitable in 2025.