By Keith Idec
TURKI Alalshikh expressed curiosity in working with Bakhram Murtazaliev even earlier than the unbeaten IBF junior middleweight champion demolished Tim Tszyu on Saturday evening.
The chairman of Saudi Arabia’s Normal Leisure Authority and the rising Murtazaliev are deeply spiritual Muslims. Murtazaliev additionally holds a acknowledged title throughout the identical 154-pound division as Terence Crawford, the highest-profile fighter with whom Alalshikh has labored since he entered the boxing enterprise a yr in the past.
Alalshikh grew to become a fair larger Murtazaliev fan following the Russian’s four-knockdown destruction of Tszyu, with whom the Saudi struggle financier engaged in a really public dispute through the summer time. Except Alalshikh could make Murtazaliev-Crawford, nonetheless, the 26-year-old Murtazaliev greater than possible will proceed working with Al Haymon’s Premier Boxing Champions.
Murtazaliev (23-0, 17 KOs) isn’t contractually dedicated to Tom Brown, the first promoter for PBC. His final 5 fights have been a part of TGB Promotions/PBC playing cards, although, and Murtazaliev and his handlers respect how they’ve been handled by Brown and PBC since he grew to become the IBF’s obligatory challenger for its 154-pound crown nearly 5 years in the past.
PBC paid Murtazaliev and promoter Essential Occasions 4 six-figure packages to step apart and permit former IBF champ Jermell Charlo to partake in title unification fights with Jeison Rosario and Brian Castano (twice) after which his tremendous middleweight showdown with Mexican celebrity Canelo Alvarez.
Murtazaliev fought 4 instances towards modest opposition as a part of the abovementioned deal, which earned Murtazaliev and Essential Occasions greater than $1.5 million mixed. His victory over Tszyu headlined PBC’s inaugural non-pay-per-view present on Amazon’s Prime Video from Caribe Royale Orlando in Orlando, Florida.
“PBC has a slew of fine opponents for him to struggle,” Kathy Duva, Essential Occasions’ CEO, instructed Boxing Information. “And dealing with them actually has been a pleasure. We’ll be completely happy to proceed working with them. If some monster struggle comes alongside within the Center East, that’s one other factor. Sooner or later, he needs a monster struggle.
“If a Crawford struggle got here alongside, it could give us pause. However I believe if not that, we’d most likely be taking a look at [working with PBC]. We’re gonna be speaking to PBC first. As Tom identified to me [Saturday] evening, ‘Jeez, we’ve been doing all of your fights since 2020.’ They’ve been a pleasure to work with.”
Erickson Lubin (26-2, 18 KOs), lengthy aligned with PBC, is the main accessible contender to struggle for Murtazaliev’s IBF belt. Lubin, a southpaw from Orlando, turned down the chance to problem Murtazaliev on Saturday evening as a result of he handled a hand damage at the moment.
The fourth-ranked Tszyu (24-2, 17 KOs) fortunately accepted that title shot, which came about six months after his 12-round, split-decision defeat to Sebastian Fundora (21-1-1, 13 KOs) on March 30 at T-Cell Enviornment in Las Vegas. Tszyu sustained a well-documented, deep reduce on the highest of his head a few seconds earlier than the second spherical of the Fundora struggle ended, which utterly modified the course of their bout.
Murtazaliev’s victory was a lot clearer. He dropped Tszyu 3 times within the second spherical and as soon as extra within the third spherical, which prompted Tszyu’s coach, Igor Goloubev, to throw within the towel.
Tszyu was a 7-1 favorite over Murtazaliev, who made his first title defence, in accordance with a number of sportsbooks.
Past Lubin, the winner between Fundora, who owns the WBC and WBO belts, and former IBF/WBA/WBC welterweight champ Errol Spence Jr. (28-1, 22 KOs) early in 2025 can be one other enticing opponent for Murtazaliev later subsequent yr. Murtazaliev may take into account lastly going through Charlo (35-2-1, 19 KOs) as properly if he can not safe a title unification struggle.
