In this week’s mailbag, we tackle your thoughts on what comes next for Tim Tszyu after the three-round drubbing he took at the hands of Bakhram Murtazaliev; we stay with the junior middleweights to talk about the year Serhii Bohachuk has had and whether he deserved better; we discuss some criticism of the International Boxing Hall of Fame; and we once again try to make sense of decisions made by the sanctioning bodies.
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TIM TSZYU NEEDS NEW CORNER AFTER LOSSES TO FUNDORA AND MURTAZALIEV
Tim Tszyu needs to change his corner, to be honest. In the Sebastian Fundora fight, they let him bleed with a massive cut for eight rounds that left his vision compromised instead of just going for a technical decision and having him retain his title.
[Editor’s Note: It would have been a “no decision” had the fight been stopped before four rounds were completed, a draw on the judges’ scorecards if the fight had been stopped after the fourth round was over, and a Fundora victory on the scorecards from any point beginning with the fifth round.]
This time against Bakhram Murtazaliev, they sent him out to get knocked out after being dropped heavily three times in the second round, where it was clear the the first knockdown he took was a concussive shot and he wasn’t gonna recover.
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Lucas Ketelle’s response: The question of whether Tim Tszyu needs a new team is a delicate one — like trying to decide if you want to switch up your squad in a bank robbery movie right before the big heist.
Maybe, but maybe not.
Let’s face it: Would Sun-Ra still be the musical genius we know if he were jamming with the San Francisco Philharmonic? Or would Chopin’s brilliance get lost in the background while he was trying to groove with Herbie Hancock? It’s all about finding the right fit.
Maybe, maybe not.
Boxing, much like art, is all about style, and the right team can make or break that. Tszyu, with a lightning bolt scar reminiscent of Harry Potter, clearly needs a cutman — like one of the best in the game. Sure, he had someone in his corner for this fight, but where’s the likes of “Stitch” Duran or Mike Bazzel? Mike Rodriguez? Rudy Hernandez? Aaron Navarro? These are the guys who have made names for themselves by giving fighters those critical extra rounds when it counts.
As Tszyu motioned to his forehead just minutes into the fight after his clashing heads with Murtazaliev, it became clear: He is still thinking about the cut from the Fundora fight. If he wants to prolong his career, he can certainly benefit from some fresh eyes in the gym — but what he really needs is an all-star cutman who knows how to keep a fighter in the game. It’s like having the right medic on your side in the trenches — essential for survival.
MAJOR LOSS FOR TIM TSZYU MEANS MAJOR REBUILDING
Tim Tszyu better forget about being in a big fight anytime soon. He was just in a big fight and had his head handed to him summarily (without the customary formalities).
After his precautionary suspension, he should work on perfecting his all-around boxing skills and focus on following his corner’s instructions to the letter in the ring. This kill-or-be-killed attitude almost got him killed.
We don’t know yet just how damaged he was in his last fight. Upon his return to the ring it should be against some journeymen before he takes on the top rated fighters again.
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Tris Dixon’s response: You make some very valid points, and I don’t think Tszyu will even try to bounce back from this loss in a rapid or thoughtless manner. Instead, I expect him to really look at what he is doing and how he is doing it — because he got this badly wrong. Even if Tszyu insists that taking on Murtazaliev wasn’t the wrong fight, he had the wrong approach.
I’ll add this: I don’t think the uncertainty over whether the hurricane that struck Florida would delay the fight helped him. But that was the same for both fighters.
However, 2025 will be a year for Tszyu to rebuild and work on his confidence, which is surely dented now. That kind of loss is extremely hurtful, mentally and physically, and there were plenty of shots he took near the end that he should not have been allowed to take.
SERHII BOHACHUK DESERVES BETTER THAN WHAT HE’S GOTTEN IN 2024
Serhii Bohachuk really got screwed over badly in all of this (“Serhii Bohachuk’s promoter talks Israil Madrimov match and other big potential fights”). He was supposed to fight Sebastian Fundora for the WBC title. Then Fundora ends up fighting Tim Tszyu instead, so Bohachuk ends up fighting Brian Mendoza (who knocked out Fundora) for an interim strap instead. Then Bohachuk defends his interim strap against Vergil Ortiz, drops him twice, and gets robbed blind on the scorecards. And now he has to fight Israil Madrimov for no belts.
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David Greisman’s response: I can tell you that Tom Loeffler, who promotes Bohachuk, has seen the glass as half-full, at the very least, in contrast with your more pessimistic take. They of course wanted all the things you listed — and are particularly upset to this day about the decision in the Ortiz fight. But as the title fight in March didn’t happen, and as the Ortiz decision went the way it did, they at least feel protected or compensated for figuratively rolling with the punches.
As you said, Bohachuk went from being scheduled to fight Fundora for a world title to fighting Mendoza for an interim belt. But that interim belt at least kept Bohachuk in position to take on the winner of Tszyu vs. Fundora.
”The WBC protected him,” Loeffler told me in August in Las Vegas, a couple days prior to the Ortiz fight. “He went from No. 2 to winning the interim world title, which puts him right there, as close as you can get to the champion without actually being the world champion. We’re thankful for that. He put on a great show up there [against Mendoza] and that earned him this position headlining now in Las Vegas.”
Similarly, Bohachuk could’ve been cast aside after his close loss to Ortiz. We’ve seen it happen with others, where they come up short and the powers-that-be move on without them. But instead of boxing treating the result like it was part of an elimination tournament, this is more of a round-robin. Bohachuk is being paid well to appear in the co-feature slot underneath the rematch between Oleksandr Usyk and Tyson Fury on December 21. Yes, Bohachuk vs. Madrimov isn’t for a world title. But the winner will be able to remain in the mix in the packed 154-pound weight class.
No, this isn’t the year Bohachuk wanted. He very well could have defeated Fundora and been a world titleholder. He very well could have gotten the nod against Ortiz. But he’s continuing to get opportunities, and a win over Madrimov will get him closer to that goal of fighting for a major world title in 2025.
BEING INDUCTED IN THE BOXING HALL OF FAME ISN’T THAT MEANINGFUL
Well… This (“The International Boxing Hall of Fame at 35: Is it time to update the process?”) is kind of a red herring of an issue. The real issue is the gravitas of the International Boxing Hall of Fame.
Most real boxing fans don’t take it seriously compared to all-time-great status. This is in contrast to baseball, where the hall of fame really means something outstanding. The IBHOF just let in a lot of mediocre fighters and don’t include a lot of very special fighters. I mean, Arturo Gatti was a very special fighter in many respects, but his ability?
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Eric Raskin’s response: I get where you’re coming from. For the first five or six years of the IBHOF, every fighter inducted was an indisputable all-time great. Then some disputable ones started getting in. And eventually, the doors opened to several boxers whom nobody could possibly consider an all-time great.
It happens in baseball, too — Scott Rolen, MLB’s equivalent of, say, a Danny Garcia or a Dariusz Michalczewski, a guy who never would have made baseball’s version of a pound-for-pound list at any point in his prime, got in recently. But it definitely happens more often with the IBHOF. The bar has been lowered, and while it’s still extraordinarily meaningful to make the cut, it doesn’t act as confirmation of true greatness the way it once did.
But in terms of such confirmation, it’s the closest thing we have in boxing. You said “fans don’t take it seriously compared to all-time-great status.” Well, there’s no institution recognizing all-time-great status. And while we can all agree that Manny Pacquiao, Bernard Hopkins, Evander Holyfield, etc., qualify, there’s no clear line of demarcation where all-time great ends and all-time-good begins. Is Miguel Cotto an all-time-great? What about Edwin Rosario? Or James Toney?
Like a couple of the people I quoted in my article, I’d prefer a vote-percentage threshold for entry, which could result in four or five inductees one year and zero or one the next. But as the National Baseball Hall of Fame has proven, that approach isn’t perfect either. Pete Rose, Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens and Alex Rodriguez aren’t in there, but Rolen, Todd Helton, Joe Mauer, and Harold Baines are. Yeah, the Baseball hall has far more problems than the Boxing hall.
And that Boxing hall, while flawed, is still a magical place in my eyes, run by people whose hearts are in the right place and who are doing the best they can. I agree that it’s lost some gravitas. Thankfully, it started with gravitas to spare, and thus it still has plenty to go around.
HOW ARE THESE GUYS IN LINE TO FIGHT FOR A WORLD TITLE?
I like how Juan Francisco Estrada and Errol Spence can be coming off knockout losses in the division below and get gifted a #1 spot in their new division (“WBC’s new No. 1 contenders: Dmitry Bivol, Juan Francisco Estrada and more”).
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David Greisman’s response: It’s hard to decide which is more maddening: when the IBF grants No. 1 slots and title shots to guys who have never accomplished much of note in the sport, or when the WBC allows fighters coming off defeats in one division to immediately jump to the front of a line in their new weight class.
It’s one thing for Tyson Fury to remain the WBC’s top contender for Oleksandr Usyk given how competitive that loss was. Or for Dmitry Bivol, now without his WBA belt, to enter the WBC’s ratings at No. 1 (which actually puts him behind interim titleholder David Benavidez).
Spence, while No. 1, is similarly behind the WBC’s interim junior middleweight titleholder, Vergil Ortiz Jr. On the one hand, Spence’s loss came against a superlative welterweight talent in Terence Crawford. On the other hand, it was a one-sided defeat, and it was one division below 154. I’m like you in that I prefer a fighter to have done something of note in his new weight class in order to be ranked.
Then there are variations on that theme. Oleksandr Usyk was undefeated when he entered the heavyweight division, and being a former WBO cruiserweight “super” titleholder allowed him to get a mandatory shot at Anthony Joshua. Did Usyk deserve that shot based on his cruiserweight run and wins over Chazz Witherspoon and Derek Chisora? No. But he got the fight and showed he belonged. The question, of course, remains whether the end justifies the means.
Looking at the WBC’s bantamweight ratings: While I agree with you about how crazy it is for Estrada to be given the top spot at 118 after being stopped by Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez down at 115, I think Estrada is a more appealing matchup for titleholder Junto Nakatani than anyone else in the sanctioning body’s Top 15.
Takuma Inoue (No. 2) just lost his WBA world title. Tenshin Nasukawa (No. 3) is still too early in his pro boxing career. Alexandro Santiago (No. 4) lost to Nakatani earlier this year. The rest of the list reads Charlie Edwards, Jason Moloney, David Cuellar, Petch Sor Chitpattana, Landi Ngxeke, Emmanuel Rodriguez, Keita Kurihara, Vincent Astrolabio, Daigo Higa, Riku Masuda and Andrew Cain.
So I’ll begrudgingly accept Nakatani vs. Estrada in a voluntary defense if that’s what we are going to get next. But I’d rather see Nakatani face Bam Rodriguez himself, or move up to 122 to take on Naoya Inoue, or at least unify with the other titleholders in the meantime.
Want to be featured in the mailbag? Comment or ask a question in the comments section below. Submissions may be edited for length and clarity. We also may select readers’ comments from other BoxingScene stories.
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