Terence Crawford says Tim Tszyu took IBF junior middleweight champion Bakhram Murtazaliev (23-0, 17 KOs) lightly, focusing on other fighters he wanted to face, and paid the price by getting knocked out in the third round in an upset loss last Saturday night in Orlando, Florida.
This fight was a 100% obliteration by Mutazaliev that had a Foreman-esque about it with the blasted an overwhelmed Tszyu to the canvas three times in round 2 and once in round 3.
The came with Tszyu looking like a ragdoll, getting raked by a heavy bomhardment of high-explosive punches in the third. Tszyu’s were gone and he was on the verge of going down for a fifth time in the fight when his corner threw in the white towel of surrender.
Did Tszyu Take Murtazaliev Lightly?
Tszyu didn’t appear to take Murtazaliev “lightly” at all. He trained hard for the fight and looked physically in better shape than he had in his previous fight against Sebastian Fundora last March. His problem was choosing to brawl with the knockout artist Murtazaliev. That was a dumb move because he lacked the defense, mobility, speed, and size to fight that kind of battle against this guy.
Crawford, who holds the WBA 154-lb title, states that Murtazaliev was just “too strong” for the former WBO champion Tszyu last night. He dropped him four times in the three-round massacre in the Premier Boxing Champions card at the Caribe Royale Resort. Three knockdowns came in the second, and Tszyu was quickly finished off in round 3.
The way Mutazaliev looked last night, he’d have also beaten Crawford. He’s too strong, aggressive, and has too much youth for the 37-year-old Omaha, Nebraska native, who barely won his last fight at 154 against Israil Madrimov last August. If that had been Madrimov that Crawford had been facing, he’d be in the same boat as Tszyu now, inching towards retirement.
The Extra Time Didn’t Help
Crawford didn’t like the way Tszyu was “given time” before the start of the third round when the ringside doctor examined him inside the ring. That seemed to take forever, but it didn’t change the outcome. Tszyu was too far gone by that point, and he likely could have been given an hour, but he still would have been knocked out by Bakhram.
Whatever chance Tszyu had of recovering, he blew it by charging forward at the start of round threw, hurling right-hand power shots, hoping to catch Murtazaliev with one of them to trurn the fight around.
Murtazaliev took advantage of the punch-drunk Tszyu by blasting him to the canvas with a vicious right hand to the head. That punch looked similar to the clubbing right that a young George Foreman knocked out Joe Frazier with in their first fight in in 1973.
Tszyu went down in the same way. When Tszyu got up, and looked at Murtaliev and his facial expression was pure shock. It was like he didnt what was happening to him.
Murtazaliev then quickly finished off the dazed Tszyu, nailing him with powerful shots that had him stumbling around the ring, teetering on his feet, about to fall over. Tszyu’s corner then wisely tossed in the towel to save him before he could be pole-axed by the powerful Murtazaliev.
Tszyu’s Career Imploding
The loss puts Tszyu’s career in a bad shape because it’s going to be near-impossible for him to come back from this defeat. What boxing fans fail to realize is that Tszyu may not have been that good to begin with.
Even before Tszyu’s loss to Fundora earlier this year on March 30th, his best career-wins had come against flawed fighters like Carlos Ocampo, Tony Harrison, Brian Mendoza, Terrell Gausha and Steve Spark. Those guys weren’t cutting edge elite-level fighters at 154.
Tim thought he had an easy one. Took this dude lightly and was worried about other fighters.
— Terence Crawford (@terencecrawford) October 20, 2024
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