Bakhram Murtazaliev enters the spotlight

Although he was in possession of the IBF junior middleweight title belt, Bakhram Murtazaliev was not a well known or highly regarded figure heading into last weekend. That all changed on Saturday night when the now 23-0 fighter battered the popular and well respected Tim Tszyu at the Caribe Royale in Orlando, Florida. Murtazaliev, though not entirely written off beforehand, was certainly the B-side attraction of Saturday’s bout. Tszyu was not only favored to win, he was expected to move on to bigger things – perhaps even facing the great Terence Crawford. How surprising, then, that Saturday’s fight wasn’t at all competitive.

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