Bakhram Murtazaliev repeatedly drops, and stops, reckless Tim Tszyu

Tim Tszyu’s world-title dreams were crushed when he was clinically stopped in three dramatic rounds by the IBF junior-middleweight champion Bakhram Murtazaliev at the Caribe Royale in Orlando, Florida.

The Australian, 29, was fighting for the first time since the occasion of his first defeat, by Sebastian Fundora in Las Vegas in March, when a significant cut affected his vision and contributed to him losing via split decision.

In the first fight since his professional debut in 2016 attended by his celebrated father Kostya, he was dropped three times in the second round and once more in the third before his uncle and trainer Igor Goloubevk threw in the towel to rescue him from the inevitability of further punishment.

Murtazaliev, 31 and of Russia, won the vacant title in April with victory over Jack Culcay in Germany, on an evening when, as his performance against Tszyu demonstrated, as a professional fighter he came of age.

He was regardless in the shadow of the marketable Tszyu in the build-up to Saturday night’s fight – a reality enhanced by the presence of his opponent’s Russia-born father – but he impressively and ruthlessly emerged from it under the again unforgivably bright lights of the ring.

Murtazaliev’s advantage in size appeared significant at the opening bell, and yet Tszyu, as has come to be expected of him, immediately sought to be the aggressor and was the first to succeed, as he did with a straight right hand. 

When he took a punch to the body before a right hand and a straight left it became clear both were committed to fighting at considerable intensity; a right hand then snapped Murtazaliev’s head back, which was followed by another right, and then a right hand from Murtazaliev that found Tszyu. Perhaps most tellingly, a clash of heads led to Tszyu appearing to check whether he had been cut, as he so damagingly was in his scalp against Fundora – in doing so he demonstrated that psychological, and not only physical, scars from March remain. 

They resumed exchanging right hands from the start of the second round, when Tszyu twice in succession found his target. He was then dropped by a strong left hand from Murtazaliev, and for all of his bravery ultimately struggled to recover.

When he returned to his feet, Tszyu  remained unsteady. Instead of attempting to defend himself he then naively and willingly traded with the champion, despite being hurt. Twice more he was dropped by left hands, and twice more he returned to his feet and almost immediately put himself back into danger. His right eye also started to swell up, increasing the size of his task.

Another left to the chin dropped him in the third round, and sufficiently heavily that he when he again stood back up he was as unsteady as the first time. Tszyu, equally bravely, chose to fight back on instinct instead of to seek to survive, and with him struggling to defend himself and risking the intervention of the referee, after one minute and 55 seconds wisely in came the towel.

If not from the first right hand that truly hurt him, Tszyu and those around him will have to question if he had sufficiently recovered from what unfolded against Fundora in Vegas.

His admirable willingness to risk fighting Vergil Ortiz Jnr, until learning that his cut required longer to heal, looks even more reckless as a consequence.  His recovery from fighting Fundora regardless may become irrelevant. It is how he responds to his beating at the hands of Murtazaliev that will define a career that once appeared destined for the very top.