Bakhram Murtazaliev’s coach, Roma Kalantaryan, doubts that Terence Crawford will want to fight Bakhram because he’s chasing big-money fights against the unified super middleweight champion.
Crawford Won’t Fight Murtazaliev
Roma thinks Crawford wouldn’t want to face Murtazaliev (23-0, 17 KOs). He does feel that it would be an entertaining fight for fans, a big guy with power taking on a smaller, highly technical fighter.
If Crawford hadn’t had such a tough time in his debut at 154 against WBA junior middleweight champion Israil Madrimov on August 3rd, he’d be agreeable to fighting Murtazaliev. But with the problems Crawford had against Madrimov, barely winning, he’ll likely never agree to fight him ever before retiring.
He’s got to know that 154 is not one that he’s suited for, and, of course, neither is 168. Obviously, the purpose of Crawford moving up to 168 is money, and it’s not a big deal if he loses.
Fighting Murtazaliev would be a hardship for Crawford because he doesn’t have the power to fight someone like this without sustaining a lot of damage.
Murtazaliev’s Size and Power Advantage
“After a fight like this, I would love to have him fight Terence Crawford, but I don’t see Crawford fighting him. That fight would look very good,” said coach Roma Kalantaryan to On The Ropes Podcast about a fight he’d like for IBF junior middleweight champion Bakhram Murtazaliev.
“That fight is going to look like a big man [Murtazaliev] fighting a really small man [Crawford]. A big, powerful puncher fighting a very slim, technical guy, and it’s going to be a crazy fight. The way I see Terence Crawford. He’s after the big money right now, and I don’t know if it’s going to happen. I hope it happens, but I don’t know,” said Roma.
Crawford would look very small in the ring with Murtazaliev, and he’d be giving away a lot of punching power as well. That would be a very ruling fight for the 37-year-old Crawford, who doesn’t move as well as he used to and wouldn’t be able to beat Murtazaliev by jabbing and counter-punching.
“On the other side, you have Fundora and Spence. That fight could actually happen because Fundora beat Tszyu by a split decision. Spence is coming off a loss, and he hasn’t been active for so long. So, I think that fight makes a lot more sense because Crawford fights for Crawford. He’s chasing the big money. We all know what he’s chasing,” said Roma.
Fundora or Spence will only fight Murtazaliev if that’s the best available option for a nice payday. His Excellent Turki Alalshikh could choose to match the winner of the December 21st fight between Israil Madrimov vs. Serhii Bohachuk against the Spence-Fundora winner. Both have already fought on Turki’s Riyadh Season events.
“We’ll see. I’m hoping we get either one as long as they give me enough time to prepare for this fight. We have enough time to prepare. We’re going to be ready no matter who comes in,” said Roma.
Spence or Fundora would be willing to fight Murtazaliev if they were paid enough by one of the promoters. PBC isn’t going to pay them enormous amounts of guaranteed money for a fight against Murtazaliev. It would require His Excellency Turki Alalshikh to finance a fight involving Murtazaliev against one of them.
“We had ten fights at 160 earlier in his career, and every single one of them ended early,” said Roma about Murtazaliev having fought at middleweight earlier in his career. He knocked out every single one of them.”
Murtazaliev should be ready to move up to 160 if he can’t get a fight against Crawford and the winner of the Spence vs. Fundora fight. The last thing that Murtazaliev needs is to stay stagnant at 154, be avoided like the plague, and be stuck making defenses against fighters that the fans aren’t familiar with.
The Options at 160
Janibek Alimkhanuly
Erislandy Lara
Carlos Adames
Hamzah Sheeraz
Chris Eubank Jr.
Most of those fighters would likely reject a fight against Murtazaliev, but not all of them. Some would agree to fight him.
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