by Keith Idec
TIM TSZYU was still bewildered by his devastating defeat more than an hour after it occurred on Saturday night.
The distraught Australian, seemingly concussed, couldn’t recall details from his unforeseen four-knockdown, third-round, technical-knockout loss to unbeaten Bakhram Murtazaliev. His handlers understandably ushered an emotional Tszyu away from a small group of reporters and videographers after barely two minutes of a question-and-answer session most confounded fighters would’ve avoided altogether.
The 29-year-old Tszyu was blunt when asked what was going through his mind in the wake of losing an IBF super-welterweight title fight that several sportsbooks listed him as a 7-1 favourite to win at Caribe Royale Orlando in Orlando, Florida.
“What the f*ck just happened?,” Tszyu said. “Like, what did I get hit with? I couldn’t regroup and I don’t know, man. Sh*t doesn’t go your way and you just have to bounce back. You know? And I was positive after the Fundora [fight], but I gotta find more answers for this one. You know, like this didn’t go according to script.
“Um, it was a little bit different. I felt unbelievable [entering the ring], I’ll be honest with you. I had a great prep, so he got me, man. And he was a better man on this night, and we live and we learn.”
Tszyu (24-2, 17 KOs) suffered his second straight defeat, but this lopsided loss to Murtazaliev (23-0, 17 KOs) was catastrophic, so unsightly it left fans and media types calling for the 29-year-old former WBO super-welterweight champion’s retirement on social media platforms.
The deep, disgusting cut Tszyu suffered late in the second round of his previous bout clearly altered the course of his 12-round, split-decision defeat to 6 ft 6ins southpaw Sebastian Fundora (21-1-1, 13 KOs) on March 30 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. His first professional loss knocked Tszyu out of contention for the biggest fights he wanted – a showdown with pound-for-pound king Terence Crawford (41-0, 31 KOs) or a rescheduled clash with former undisputed 154-pound champ Jermell Charlo (35-2-1, 19 KOs) – yet the cut on top of his head bled so much and was so obstructive that the official result of the Fundora fight should’ve been listed with a footnote on boxrec.com.
This utter destruction appeared inexplicable not only to Tszyu and his team, but to most objective observers who had watched Murtazaliev and Tszyu compete the past couple years.
The eldest son of legendary former super-lightweight champ Kostya Tszyu, who watched his son lose to Murtazaliev from a ringside seat, suffered two flash knockdowns combined in his first 25 professional fights. He was dropped by Murtazaliev three times in the second round alone, and again in the third round, when Tszyu’s trainer, Igor Goloubev, threw in the towel.
Murtazaliev entered the ring undefeated, but he was largely known as the IBF mandatory challenger who accepted step-aside fees for four tune-up fights that enabled Jermell Charlo to participate in title unification fights with Jeison Rosario and Brian Castano (twice) and eventually his super middleweight championship showdown with Mexican superstar Canelo Alvarez. When Murtazaliev finally fought for the then-vacant IBF 154-pound crown April 6 in Falkensee, Germany, his 11th-round knockout of Ecuador’s Jack Culcay (33-5, 14 KOs) wasn’t televised or streamed in the UK or the U.S.
The Russian-born Murtazaliev, who lives and trains in Glendale, California, also demonstrated marked improvement in three fights with Roman Kalantaryan as his head trainer. Murtazaliev made sure to credit Kalantaryan during his post-fight interview for how hard his cornerman pushes him at the gym Kalantaryan owns in Glendale.