The top fighters at 154, Vergil Ortiz Jr. and Terence Crawford have shown no interest in facing IBF junior middleweight champion Bakhram Murtazaliev after his third-round knockout win against Tim Tszyu on October 19th.
Ortiz Jr. Stays Silent
Surprisingly, Murtazaliev’s name wasn’t mentioned as even a backup option for Ortiz Jr. to fight on the February 22nd card in Riyadh. Instead of Murtazaliev being one of the options for Vergil, Xander Zayas, and Erislandy Lara were in the running before Israil Madrimov was ultimately selected.
We don’t know if Madrimov will be able to make the February 22nd date because he has a tough fight this month against Serghii Bohachuk on December 21st. Why hasn’t Murtazaliev’s name been floated as a potential replacement for Ortiz Jr. to fight if Madrimov can’t make it?
That performance by Murtazaliev (23-0, 17 KOs) may have scared off Vergil Jr., Crawford, and unified WBC and WBO 154-lb champion Sebastian Fundora. The way Murtazaliev sliced through the former WBO champion Tszyu, knocking him down three times in round two and a final time in the third, was reminiscent of how a young 24-year-old George Foreman destroyed Joe Frazier in two rounds on January 22nd, 1973.
At 154, Murtazaliev has become part of the untouchable class, with none of the top dogs wanting to mix it up with him for fear of ending up in the same boat as poor Tszyu.
