Bakhram Murtazaliev’s promoters expecting war with ‘tough MF-er’ Tim Tszyu

Bakhram Murtazaliev just won his first world title earlier this year and, to make his name, will attempt to defend it against Tim Tszyu, who just lost his world title—and doesn’t want another fighter to make their name at his expense.

Those ingredients, plus the aggressive styles of the two junior middleweights, are why Murtazaliev’s promotional team expects the October 19 match with Tszyu to turn into a war.

“This is a badass fight,” said Joe Rotonda, director of operations for Main Events. Rotonda and longtime Main Events head Kathy Duva joined me for a recent interview, which will be released in full this week on United Boxing, a podcast I co-host. “If you look at Tszyu’s last performance and Bakhram’s last performance, where he won the title, both these guys are willing to go to war, and they’re probably going to have to in this one.”

Murtazaliev (22-0, 16 KOs) won the vacant IBF title in early April, traveling to Germany and defeating Jack Culcay in hostile territory. Murtazaliev was ahead on two of the three scorecards when he knocked Culcay out in the 11th round.

“He has achieved his goal of being a world champion. And now he wants to hold the title for a while. And then I would assume he’d move up to middleweight because he’s awfully big for a junior middleweight,” Duva said. “He’s reached his initial goal. He still has goals. And watching him with Culcay, I was there for that one: It was life and death as far as he was concerned. You know, this was it. He had to win this fight. There were opportunities he turned down for more money that didn’t have a title attached. And it was, ‘No, I want that title fight. That’s what I want. That’s my goal right now.’”

Murtazaliev wants the big fights at junior middleweight, including a potential unification bout with Terence Crawford. To get there, he needs to get by Tszyu (24-1, 17 KOs), who lost his WBO title and missed out on picking up the vacant WBC belt in late March — a week before Murtazaliev vs. Culcay — when he suffered a nasty cut from an accidental elbow and dropped a split decision to Sebastian Fundora.

“Tszyu’s a tough motherfucker,” Rotonda said “There’s guys that would have folded. I could fit my thumb all the way in that cut. Tszyu’s tough. I don’t think people were giving him that credit [earlier in his career] just because he’s the son of a Hall of Fame fighter [Kostya Tszyu] and maybe the upbringing wasn’t as badass as a Bakhram or wasn’t as tough or who knows. When you left that fight, you knew Tszyu was real and he’s here to stay. He wants it just as bad as some of these other guys too. […] He’s here to be world champion and he wants it just as bad as the next guy. He dug deep in that way.”

Murtazaliev, meanwhile, grew up during the Chechen War and its aftermath.

“He did not have a comfortable upbringing. He’s not wealthy,” Duva said. “He didn’t have anything handed to him in his entire life. And he’s willing to work hard for what he gets. And I just believe he’s going to meet the moment.”

The moment will arrive in the main event at the Caribe Royale Orlando in Florida on Amazon’s Prime Video.

“Bakhram’s confident. He has power. Bakhram’s kind of unorthodox in there, too, if you watch him. His movements almost leave you unbalanced,” Rotonda said. “Tszyu’s a pretty underrated counterpuncher. I think at some point, maybe after the first or second round, these guys start throwing it around in there and we have a little bit of a war. At that point, we’ll see who wants it more. The thing with Tszyu, too, is, is he ready for another war like he just had with Fundora? Maybe he is. I’m not saying he isn’t. […] You never know who bounces back from those and who doesn’t. I think going in, I’d like to think Bakhram’s the fresher of the two, just based off that.”

David Greisman, who has covered boxing since 2004, is on Twitter @FightingWords2 and @UnitedBoxingPod. He is the co-host of the United Boxing Podcast. David’s book, “Fighting Words: The Heart and Heartbreak of Boxing,” is available on Amazon.