IBF junior middleweight champion Bakhram Murtazaliev and lately crushed former 154-lb champion Tim Tszyu each weighed in efficiently on Friday on the official weigh-in for his or her 12-round headliner this Saturday evening on October nineteenth on PBC on Prime Video on the Caribe Royale Resort in Orlando, Florida.
(Credit score: Joseph Correa/Premier Boxing Champions)
Weights: Bakhram Murtazaliev 152.8 kilos, Tim Tszyu 153.4.
Tszyu (24-1, 17 KOs) is dealing with profession oblivion on this battle as a result of he’s coming off a nasty loss to Sebastian Fundora on March thirtieth and is ready the place he can’t lose once more if he’s to get the larger cash fights in opposition to the highest canine.
Tszyu Placing Up a False Entrance
All week lengthy, Tszyu has been dismissive about Murtazaliev (22-0, 16 KOs), downplaying the risk that he poses for him on Saturday. Clearly, you may see in Tszyu’s face and conduct that he’s afraid. He is aware of how harmful Murtazaliev is and the risk he poses to his profession.
If Tszyu will get knocked out on Saturday evening, he can completely say goodbye to his desires of combating Terence Crawford, Jermell Charlo, and Errol Spence. These three are on Tszyu’s wishlist for his subsequent battle, in addition to a rematch with Fundora.
“I prefer it for Tim, and I prefer it for boxing. The rationale I prefer it for Tim is as a result of I believe it’s a battle that he’s going to win. I prefer it for boxing as a result of I believe it’s going to be action-packed,” mentioned Shawn Porter to Jai McAllister about Saturday evening’s battle between IBF junior middleweight champion Murtazaliev and Tszyu.
“When you’ve gotten two international fighters combating on American soil, you want one thing that can promote individuals for why they need to watch this battle. I’d inform everyone to look at this battle as a result of it’s going to be action-packed.
“He bins on this battle and units up Bakhram. I believe Tim goes to have some particular timing on battle evening,” Porter mentioned.
It’s going to be near-impossible for Tszyu to alter his combating fashion for this battle to grow to be a boxer in opposition to Murtazaliev as a result of he’s too flat-footed and sluggish on his toes to tug that off. I don’t suppose Tszyu will even try to field. He doesn’t have the toes to do this, and even when he makes an attempt that, Murtazaliev will minimize off the ring and entice him in a warfare.
Porter’s prediction of Tszyu would have extra weight if he hadn’t been fallacious along with his current choose of Dmitry Bivol over Artur Beterbiev from final Saturday. He was fallacious with that prediction, so it’s troublesome to purchase into him selecting Tszyu over Murtazaliev.
Given Porter’s historical past of getting it fallacious along with his predictions, the temptation is to go the opposite approach and choose Murtazaliev as being the winner on Saturday evening. He may knock Tszyu out if he’s as flat-footed and as simple to hit as he was in his loss to Sebastian Fundora on March thirtieth.
Tszyu resembled a strolling punching bag with arms in that battle, and took a beating from the 6’6″ Fundora, shedding a 12-round break up determination.
“I don’t know if Tim goes to knock out Murtazaliev, however I do know that’s their plan for Tim. They wish to knock Tim out,” mentioned Porter.
It is sensible for Staff Murtazaliev to be specializing in knocking out the extra common Tszyu as a result of they’re the B-side for Saturday’s battle, and you bought to consider that if it goes to the scorecards, there’s a great probability that if the battle is shut, Tim will get the nod from the judges based mostly on his reputation.
Murtazaliev is a knockout artist and the higher puncher of the 2. Tszyu has extra energy, however he solely throws one punch at a time and doesn’t put his photographs collectively like Murtazaliev, who’s a extra aggressive model of Dmitry Bivol.
Murtazaliev assaults his opponents relentlessly, going for the kill like a shark that smells blood within the water. There’s nobody that fights like him within the 154-lb division. He’s deadly when he’s on the assault, and he is aware of that Tszyu is weak prey after shedding to Fundora and coming into this battle along with his profession on the road.
“I believe they’re going to rely an excessive amount of on their energy, and it’s going to work in opposition to them,” mentioned Porter about Murtazaliev.
Once more, this seems like one other fallacious bit of study for Porter, arguing that Murtazaliev’s aggressive focus will backfire on him fairly than work in his favor in opposition to Tszyu.
Murtazaliev goes to assault Tszyu from the outset, raking him with photographs and making him battle for survival. If Tszyu continues to be haunted by his loss to Fundora, he’s not going to final lengthy contained in the ring with this knockout artist.
Tszyu is aware of what he’s up in opposition to on Saturday, combating for his profession, and he’s going to have to point out extra potential than he ever has to have an opportunity in opposition to Murtazaliev. I don’t see Tszyu profitable.
