Keith Thurman believes Bakhram Murtazaliev has done enough to merit a chance with the big names at junior middleweight.
Florida’s Thurman, 35, who held the WBC welterweight title in 2017, said Murtazaliev’s devastating third-round stoppage win over Tim Tszyu on Saturday night places him among the best at the weight in the world.
“When it comes to Bakhram, he came over here on a big stage and made a big statement at the biggest moment of his career to elevate himself in the beautiful ranks of boxing,” Thurman said while on ringside punditry duty in Caribe Royale Orlando in Orlando, Florida.
“I mean, let’s be honest. After tonight, do you not wanna see him against all the names that you just mentioned? You push the headline together.”
The win represents a significant milestone in Murtazaliev’s career having been on the fringes at 154 for years before getting the chance to fight for the IBF belt in April. Murtazaliev had to travel to beat Jack Culcay in his own backyard in Germany to annex the IBF junior middleweight title.
With this emphatic win over Tszyu, Murtazaliev 23-0 (17) is on course to be counted as one of the best at the weight in the world, and Thurman believes he’s up there with them.
“At this stage, you make the fight poster and the fans are gonna come because we just saw that Bakhram is coming to fight. He did an excellent job tonight,” said Thurman.
“There are plenty of tremendous fighters, tremendous champions, world champions, ex-champions, and there’s plenty more competition for him, and I’d like to see him up against them all.”
Tszyu, 24-2 (17), is now winless in his last two fights having lost to Sebastian Fundora in March. The Australian was supposed to fight Thurman early this year but the fight fell through after the latter suffered a biceps injury in training. Instead, Fundora replaced Thurman as Tszyu’s opponent, inflicting on the Australian his first career defeat.
Addressing Thurman’s current situation, Thurman said: “It’s hard. Tim Tszyu started this year coming over here to the US, signing a contract against me, finding a replacement, having a split decision loss, and then trying to fight the champion of the world.
“This is the world of boxing. He’s done great things in Australia, but he has the sour taste of the vastness and the degree of competition that there is in the real world of boxing.”
Bernard Neequaye is a sports journalist with a specialty in boxing coverage. He wrote a boxing column titled “From The Ringside” in his native Ghana for years. He can be reached on X (formerly Twitter) at @BernardNeequaye, LinkedIn at Bernard Neequaye and through email at [email protected].
Read the full article here
