Notebook: Murtazaliev KO'd Tszyu despite pre-fight broken knuckle
Alalshikh says nothing decided on timing of possible Beterbiev-Bivol rematch; Warren signs Okolie; BetUS show; Quick hits; Show and tell
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Bakhram Murtazaliev’s third-round destruction of heavy favorite Tim Tszyu to retain the IBF junior middleweight title last Saturday night in Orlando, Florida, came as a surprise to most.
Perhaps it was not totally shocking that he won, but the manner in which he did was nothing short of stunning. He knocked Tszyu down three times in the second round and when he dropped him again for the fourth knockdown of the fight in the third round, Tszyu’s corner threw in the towel, causing referee Christopher Pearson to wave off the carnage at 1 minute, 55 seconds.
If that wasn’t impressive enough, this week came the disclosure from his promoter, Main Events, that Murtazaliev had scored the upset knockout despite entering the fight with a broken knuckle on his right-hand pinky finger. According to Main Events, he suffered the injury on his final day of sparring on Oct. 11.
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The injury did not, however, keep him from throwing an assortment of power right hands, many of which connected cleanly on Tszyu (24-2, 17 KOs), 29, of Australia. But he primarily relied on his left hook.
“The guy is a monster,” Main Events CEO Kathy Duva said of Murtazaliev, who made the first defense of the vacant 154-pound title he won by knocking out Jack Culcay in the 11th round on his turf in Germany in April. “We were very confident going into the fight. The idea was to put pressure on right from the start, not letting up, thinking Tszyu may be tentative coming off his last fight, a loss (due to severe cut on his scalp in March).”
Murtazaliev (23-0, 17 KOs), 31, a Russia native fighting out of Glendale, California, reflected on the career-making victory this week.
“The fight pretty much went the way I expected,” Murtazaliev said in translated comments. “I was thinking that he would probably stick around a little bit longer than three rounds. I had mentioned in interviews prior to the fight that I thought I would stop him, but I didn’t know when we would stop him. We did also prepare for 12 rounds.”
Said trainer Roman Kalantaryan: “Since his right hand was broke, he was using lots of left hooks, and not the right hand. That right hand is deadly and most of the time that’s how his knockouts come. The thing was, it was so close to the fight and camp was great and we didn’t want to have any excuses. That’s why we were throwing so many left hooks, which is how the knockout came.”
The magnitude of the victory puts Murtazaliev in the thick of things in a loaded junior middleweight division, which is the new home for elite pound-for-pounder and WBA titlist Terence Crawford as well as WBC/WBO titlist Sebastian Fundora, who narrowly defeated Tszyu by split decision in March to unify belts, and WBC interim titlist Vergil Ortiz Jr., among others.
“Bakhram showed that he is a real money fighter,” Duva said. “He waited four years for a title shot. Had to go fight for that title in his opponent’s back yard, and against all odds, won by knockout. Then, in his first defense he shocked most by winning by stoppage. He was a 5-to-1 underdog in Germany (against Culcay) and Tszyu was favored by 7-to-1. Bakhram will probably be an underdog against who he fights next, but we are very excited whoever that may be.”
Whoever he faces in his second defense, Murtazaliev would like to fight again soon.
“I don’t want to wait too long for another fight since I am 31 years old,” he said. “I would love to unify the titles, so that would mean whoever comes first with another belt. Another option would be to go get a champion at middleweight. If that doesn’t work out, we will take anyone in the top 10. But again, first option is unification under fair circumstances, and as long as the fight makes sense.
“I had been waiting three or four years to get the title shot. I eventually did get the chance at the world title but the circumstances surrounding that title fight were terrible. I had to train during Ramadan times (at night) and the fight and fight week activities were in the Berlin city limits, and they stuck us in a hotel way outside the city.”
Beterbiev-Bivol rematch timing
After Dmitry Bivol (23-1, 12 KOs) lost the WBA light heavyweight title to Artur Beterbiev (21-0, 20 KOs), who unified all four major titles to became the undisputed champion via exceptionally close majority decision on Oct. 12 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, he immediately called for a rematch.
Beterbiev said he would be happy to give him one if that was what Turki Alalshikh, who oversees the Riyadh Season events and controls its enormous budget in his capacity as the chairman of Saudi Arabia’s General Entertainment Authority, wanted — and that is exactly what Alalshikh wants. He said so after the fight, making it known that even though he has a relationship with both fighters, he thought Bivol won by two points.
Beterbiev promoter Bob Arum of Top Rank also said he is fine with a rematch, but suggested a sequel may have to wait until the start of the next Riyadh Season festival next October because of the funding needed to make it happen.
Arum recently told Fight Freaks Unite the reason was because even though over the past year Alalshikh has signed off on major cards to take place outside the window of the annual Riyadh Season, which runs from October through March, including putting an event on in Los Angeles in August and one in London in September, that was probably coming to an end.
“Turki, who loves boxing, wants to see a rematch and I think the public would love to see a rematch,” Arum said. “But again, because the Riyadh Season ends in (March), the earliest date for a rematch would be next October.”
Arum said having a rematch on a Riyadh Season card outside of Saudi Arabia would not work because as far he knows there aren’t plans to do more of them outside of the kingdom.
“That is not what they’re going to do in the future,” Arum said. “I think there was a lot of push back on His Excellency (Alalshikh) for doing fights outside of Saudi Arabia and outside of Riyadh Season. So, I think going forward, you know, in order to tap into the large budget that they will have they will have to do the fights in Riyadh Season in Saudi Arabia, which makes sense.
“So it may mean that each of these guys fight one more time against other opponents, and then for October of next year they do the rematch. I think that is the likely, from a business standpoint, the likeliest thing that will happen and I think that's a reasonable thing — if guys take interim fights, if they’re amenable to it.”
Alalshikh, however, said that not necessarily true. He told Fight Freaks Unite that whether there will be boxing events during months outside of the Riyadh Season or outside of Riyadh has not been decided, leaving the door open for a Beterbiev-Bivol rematch to possibly take place without a year wait.
Okolie signs with Queensberry
Queensberry Promotions’ Frank Warren announced that he has signed two-division titlist Lawrence Okolie to a promotional agreement on Friday.
Okolie (20-1, 15 KOs), 31, of England, won the WBO cruiserweight title and after losing it moved up and won the WBC bridgerweight belt in the 224-pound division.
Okolie won the bridgerweight title in May, traveling to Poland and dropping Lukasz Rozanski three times in the first round for the knockout victory.
Two weeks ago, Okolie, a 2016 Olympian, vacated the title rather than make a mandatory defense against interim titlist Kevin Lerena and announced he was going to go to heavyweight.
Now he has signed with Queensberry, which is deep at heavyweight as the promoter for fighters such as former champion Tyson Fury, IBF titlist Daniel Dubois, Zhilei Zhang and Joe Joyce.
“There is only one place if you are a heavyweight in Britain or the world, it is the Warrens,” Okolie said. “They’ve got the best up and coming heavyweights, the best current heavyweights and the best who are on their way out. So it is the place to be, for me.
“It has gone through different phases in my career and I needed to find a home that would cater for this next period, right to the end of my career, which is the heavyweight dream of being a three-weight world champion. I am a natural for the weight, right from being on the GB team. I have been struggling with making weight but, when you have success, you keep on pushing it. I even had to come down to make bridgerweight, so I knew it was time to go up.”
Warren was pleased to sign Okolie to add him to his deep roster.
“I am thrilled to add Lawrence to our burgeoning heavyweight ranks here at Queensberry and I fully expect him to increase our successes in the marquee division,” Warren said. “Lawrence possesses all the attributes to make a big impact at heavyweight and he will relish being released of the burden of cutting weight, allowing his natural talent and power to shine through.
“There are so many exciting fights and options out there for Lawrence and I am so looking forward to getting him started again.”
Prograis interview
If you missed the recent podcast episode that includes my one-on-one interview with former two-time junior welterweight titlist Regis Prograis ahead of Saturday’s fight with top contender Jack Catterall, we broke it out separately and you can listen to it here. Give it a listen, a review, and also subscribe to get an alert when the next episode is available. New shows every Thursday and Sunday night (and occasional special episodes like this one).
BetUS Boxing Show
If you missed the BetUS Boxing Show live at 1 p.m. ET on Friday on YouTube, please check out the replay (and also subscribe to the YouTube channel). We previewed and picked two fights that are on Saturday’s Matchroom Boxing show on DAZN: the junior welterweight main event between former world title challenger Jack Catterall and two-time titlist Regis Prograis and the junior welterweight rematch between James Flint and Campbell Hatton, who is seeking to avenge an upset loss from earlier this year. We also took viewer questions and comments and discussed the latest boxing news! Please check out the show here:
Quick hits
Weights from Manchester, England, for the Matchroom Boxing card on Saturday (DAZN, 2 p.m. ET): Jack Catterall 140 pounds, Regis Prograis 139.7; Reece Bellotti 129.12, Michael Gomez Jr. 129.15; James Flint 139.4, Campbell Hatton 140.1; Pat McCormack 146.11, Williams Andres Herrera 145.8; Junaid Bostan 158, Maico Sommariva 155.7; Ste Clarke 161.6, Mateusz Pawlowski 159.12; William Crolla 155.12, Lorenzo Grasso 155.11; Joe McGrail 127.1, Lewis Morris 128.2; Emily Whitworth 117.9, Sara Orszago 110.1.
Two weeks ago the WBO ordered unified middleweight titlist Janibek Alimkhanuly (16-0, 11 KOs), 31, of Kazakhstan, and mandatory challenger Hamzah Sheeraz (21-0, 17 KOs), 25, of the newly crowned European champion from England, to fight next and gave them until Oct. 23 to make a deal. However, on Thursday the WBO announced that Top Rank, Alimkhanuly’s promoter, and Queensberry Promotions, which promotes Sheeraz, “jointly petitioned an extension of the negotiation period” and that the WBO granted one. Now an agreement must be reached no later than Nov. 4 at 4 p.m. ET or a purse bid will be scheduled.
Bantamweight “Gucci” Manny Flores (19-1, 15 KOs), 26, of Coachella, California, needed just 1 minute, 50 seconds to knock out Victor Olivo (21-5-1, 9 KOs), 28, of Mexico, in the main event of the “Golden Boy fight Night” card on Thursday at Fantasy Springs Resort Casino in Indio, California. Flores won his fourth fight in a row by knockout since taking his only loss by decision in June 2023. Flores ended the fight with a body shot. “It was only one round, so I feel good,” Flores said. “I can go again. I give myself a B today. I should have stopped him earlier.”
Former IBF heavyweight titlist Charles Martin (29-4-1, 26 KOs), 38, of Carson, California, will fight Matthew McKinney (17-8-3, 13 KOs), 43, of Escondido, California, in an eight-rounder on a Westside Promotions club show Nov. 16 at the Fox Theater in Redwood City, California, as he tried to get back in the win column and land another meaningful fight, manager Mike Borao told Fight Freaks Unite. Martin, who held the belt for three months in 2016 before losing it via KO to Anthony Joshua, is coming off a wide 10-round decision loss to Jared Anderson on July 1, although Martin did have Anderson in trouble at one point.
Show and tell
When Daniel Jacobs outpointed longtime stablemate and sparring partner Sergiy Derevyanchenko, he won the vacant IBF middleweight title at The Theater at Madison Square Garden in New York, a hometown bout for the Brooklyn-born Jacobs and Ukraine’s Derevyanchenko, who makes Brooklyn his adopted home. It was a good, competitive fight in which Jacobs scored a first-round knockdown and won a split decision, 115-112 on two scorecards while one judge had it 114-113 for Derevyanchenko. The fight headlined an HBO-televised tripleheader that also included Alberto Machado scoring a first-round knockout of Yuandale Evans to retain the WBA junior lightweight title and Heather Hardy outpointing Shelly Vincent in a rematch to win the vacant WBO women’s featherweight title bout.
I covered the event, knowing it would be the last of the 236 HBO events I covered at ringside. Just a few weeks earlier HBO announced it was ending its involvement in boxing, a traumatic situation for me having grown up with its boxing franchise being a major part of my life and then even more so having covered it for so many years. So it was a bittersweet card to cover knowing it was my last HBO show. The network did put on two more events after this one but I did not attend either. Jacobs-Derevyanchenko took place on Oct. 27, 2018 — six years ago on Sunday. Here is a very limited HBO poster and my ringside credential in my collection.
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Photos: Murtazaliev-Tszyu/Joseph Correa/PBC; Beterbiev-Bivol: Mikey Williams/Top Rank; Okolie: Boxxer
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those budget HBO cards towards the end were a depressing end to an incredible legacy. On par with boxing, as the all time greats generally do go out a shadow of their former selves. Ugh.
Have noticed you haven't gone to Saudi for any fights Dan. How big would an event have to be for you to make that trip?