Tim Tszyu is looking beyond his fight against IBF junior middleweight champion Bakhram Murtazaliev this Saturday toward a higher prize for big money against Canelo Alvarez in 2025. Tszyu (24-1, 17 KOs) isn’t letting his recent loss to Sebastian Fundora stop him from dreaming big.
Tszyu lacks the appeal to get picked by Canelo because a fight between them won’t sell on PPV. He’s well known to the U.S. public. The fans who know him saw him getting beaten up by Fundora.
If Tszyu becomes one of the many fighters chasing a bag against Canelo, it could signal that he’s having doubts about his career viability. He looked terrible in his 12-round split decision loss to Fundora on March 30th and could be starting to look for an exit strategy like Terence Crawford is.
Tszyu believes his fighting style would work against the unified three-belt super middleweight champion Canelo. He’s not talking about moving up to weight classes and earning the fight at 168 against some of the highly-ranked contenders.
So, we have to assume that Tszyu just wants to skip to the front of the line for a straight shot against Alvarez after he first defeats the unbeaten Murtazaliev (22-0, 16 KOs) this Saturday, October 19th. They’re headlining a 12-round contest on PBC on Prime Video from the Caribe Royale Resort in Orlando, Florida.
Many people believe Murtazaliev will defeat the 29-year-old Tszyu, knocking him out and sending him to his second consecutive defeat. Murtazaliev is a combination puncher with big power in both hands, and Tszyu is there to be hit due to his aggressive fighting style.
Does Tszyu stand a chance of getting the Canelo fight? Readers, what do you think? I don’t see it happening, but not just because he doesn’t rate. I expect Tszyu to lose to Murtazaliev by knockout, and his career will be meteor dust.
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