Unification-seeking Bakhram Murtazaliev praises ‘real man’ Tim Tszyu

Bakhram Murtazaliev described Tim Tszyu as a “real man” after watching him bravely and recklessly attempt to trade with him throughout the process of suffering four knockdowns and a defeat inside three rounds.

The Russian made the first defence of his IBF junior-middleweight title and produced his finest performance to clinically drop the aggressive Tszyu three times in the second round and once more in the third before forcing the intervention of Tszyu’s uncle and trainer Igor Goloubevk.

At the Caribe Royale in Orlando, Florida, Murtazaliev enhanced his reputation as much as he damaged the 29-year-old Tszyu’s.

For all of the champion’s accuracy and power with his left hand, his Australian challenger will come to recognise his naivety in neglecting to defend himself and the fearlessness with which he fought from the opening bell.

Murtazaliev, 31, regardless admired the heart Tszyu demonstrated on the most difficult night of his career. He also targeted unification contests with Terence Crawford or Sebastian Fundora, or a high-profile showdown with Errol Spence.

“Maybe he didn’t recover well, so he didn’t really quite understand what he was doing,” Murtazaliev said. “But he was so brave out there – fighting almost four rounds and the referee gave him so many opportunities to fight – and after four rounds he fought so brave, and I give him a lot of respect. He’s a real man.

“At the end of the day this is just a sport, and I had nothing personal against him. Before the fight I guess he was promoting and he was saying some stuff that was kind of bothering me, even though I didn’t give him any reason for that. But after the fight we just shook hands and had peace with each other, and he congratulated me and said, ‘Thank you for the fight’. 

“We didn’t plan anything. If it had ended in the first round, it would have ended in the first round. In the third round… I did not expect anything. I was ready to go all 12 rounds. It was not that hard, because it ended so early I didn’t get hit too much, but I was ready for 12 rounds.

“You could ask him that – the left hook was very powerful, and he didn’t expect it, and when you don’t expect it, it’s double the impact.

“I was thinking, in the first round, just to feel him out – to feel his power; see how hard he hits. A lot of people are saying that you can see my shots; that I hit sloppy. But he was hitting like that too, so I could see everything, so I wanted to counter him.”

Asked of his plans following a victory that will have done more for his reputation than the night in April in Germany that he won the vacant title against Jack Culcay, he responded: “I’m just interested in unifying the titles. I’ll fight any champion; I’ll fight a few champions and then we’ll move up a division.

“My plan is to fight for more titles, against Spence, Fundora or Crawford, but if we cannot make it happen, then we will choose the best option for us, to give us more opportunities.

“People need to understand who trains me [Roman Kalantaryan]. If they only knew how he trains me, trust me, nobody would take the fight with me. People don’t understand how much I suffer when I train with this guy.”

Murtazaliev has improved considerably under Roman Kalantaryan’s guidance, and after he called his trainer over Kalantaryan said: “If we have enough time, we can be ready for anybody. This time we had all the opportunities to train right. I’ve been telling everybody it’s going to happen – they didn’t believe me. There’s so much hype on the internet – people calling crazy stuff like, ‘Who’s this guy?’. 

“Now people know who this guy is and what he’s capable of. So thank you for hyping up this fight so big for him. We come, we saw, we conquered and we go home. That’s what happens.”