Chris Algieri points out that Tim Tszyu is now being viewed by fans as being washed up after suffering his second consecutive defeat last Saturday night in a third-round knockout loss to IBF junior middleweight champion Bakhram Murtazaliev in Orlando, Flordia.
Algieri feels that fans throw fighters to the wayside once they suffer a loss or two, which leads to other fighters and promoters choosing to avoid risks by taking sure-thing opposition. That obviously hurts the sport because fans are seeing nothing but mismatches, and they’re paying to watch them often on PPV.
The result is the sport slowly dies because ratings are bad, networks dump boxing, and promoters are forced to shop for another platform. Nothing changes, of course. You get the same mismatches with the new platform.
Tszyu (24-2, 17 KOs) took a risk and failed in loss to Murtazaliev. Algieri thinks it’s troubling that fans are giving up on Tszyu for being brave by taking this risky fight, which many high-profile fighters that will remain nameless chose to avoid. They knew the risk Murtazaliev would bring, so they took on lesser fighters at 154.
“Fighters are unwilling to take these risks. We live in an era where you have to have an O; you have to be perfect. It’s really unfortunate because it keeps the fighters from taking risks and promoters letting their fighters take the risks as well,” said Chris Algieri to Probox TV, reacting to Tim Tszyu’s loss to Bakhram Murtazaliev last Saturday night.
Each division is loaded with fighters that are playing it safe, taking weak opposition. At the top of the pound-for-pound list, it’s loaded with fighters that face weak opposition. Most of them pad their record.
“The fan base just throws them away, and now guys are going to throw away Tim,” said Algieri. “I’m seeing headlines, ‘Is Tim Tszyu washed?’ The guy took two losses against good fighters, one of which was very controversial. I thought he was looking very fantastic in that fight before the elbow caused the horrific bloody cut on his forehead. He’s blinded by blood for the next 11 rounds. ”
Fans have already given up on Tszyu, and that’s the reality. For him to win over those people again, he’ll need to beat special fighters because he’ll not regain their trust fighting domestic-level fighters in Australia. It’s pathetic that fans give up on fighters after a loss or two, but that’s the way it is.
“He fought a murderous guy,” said Algieri. “I thought this was more coming out for Murtazaliev than it is to say that Tim Tszyu is completely washed and we should throw him to the wayside. Tim chose these fights. It is a title fight. People are going, ‘Oh, it’s bad matchmaking.’ It’s a title fight. You fight the guy with a title. You fight everybody.
“If you think you’re the best guy in the world, you fight everybody around you. If that guy has got a strap, ‘I’m going right at you. I don’t care if I don’t know him. I don’t care if he has a big profile or not. I’ve got to beat that guy if I want to be a world champion.’ Unfortunately for Tim, he fell short this time, but the powers that be are going to look at him a different way,” said Algieri.
Today, Tszyu took on what could be the #1 fighter in the 154-lb division by facing Murtazaliev. None of the fighters at 154 have looked anywhere near as impressive as Murtazaliev did in his win over Tszyu. Terence Crawford barely won his debut at 154 last August and looked old and weak. Sebastian Fundora had looked terrible in his fight against Tszyu last March until he accidentally cut him with an elbow. If not for the cut, Fundora would have likely lost.
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