Trainer Derek ‘Bozy’ Ennis believes WBA junior middleweight champion Terence Crawford will stop IBF champion Bakhram Murtazaliev if the two meet for a unification fight. Bozy feels that Crawford (41-0, 31 KOs) has too much technical ability for Murtzaliev (23-0, 17 KOs).
Bozy feels Crawford’s ability to punch and move led him to victory over the powerful Murtazaliev, who looked devastating in his recent win over Tim Tszyu.
Many fans feel that Crawford lacks the power and youth to defeat Murtazaliev. The 37-year-old Crawford looked old and frail in his recent debut at 154 on August 3. Crawford took a beating against Israil Madrimov, and he looked his age and beyond.
If Madrimov was more popular, he would have had the decision because he hit Crawford with the best shots in every round of the fight. The judges scored the fight as an amateur affair rather than a professional bout.
Father time knocking on Crawford’s door
You could tell from watching his fight against Isrial Madrimov that Father Time is knocking on Crawford’s door. If he stops to take a young murderer like Murtazaliev, he might apologize later.
It wouldn’t be a big deal for Crawford to risk his neck against Murtazaliev if he wasn’t still hoping the tooth fairy would deliver the Canelo Alvarez fight.
Crawford is saving himself for that dream fight, and he’s not expected to take any risky fights against someone like Murtazaliev and have him screw things up.
“Terence is a very different fighter from Tim Tszyu. More strategic and more technical. I think Terence will stop him in the tenth or eleventh round. Il fallait le battre et travailler sur lui. The same he did against Postol ” coach Greg Hackett said YSM Sports Media when asked about his thoughts on a fight between Terence Crawford and Bakhram Murtazaliev. “He had to work on it.”
Hackett, using Crawford’s win over Viktor Postol in July 2016 as the reason he has to defeat Murtazaliev is a poor example. Crawford was 28 years old when he fought Postol and was fighting at 140 against a weaker fighter. He fights at 154 now, older, slower, and would have to face a much bigger and stronger fighter than the lanky Postol.
Hackett is right that Crawford is different from former WBO junior middleweight champion Tszyu. He is less powerful than Tszyu, older and less ambitious. The shots that Bakhram Murtazaliev dropped Tszyu did the same to Crawford, and probably much sooner because he has never been hit like that in his career.
For Crawford to have any chance of beating Murtazaliev, he would need to get in the trenches against him and take massive shots over the 12 rounds to win a decision. I don’t think Crawford could handle six rounds of punching from Murtazaliev without going down for the count or needing to be pulled out by his longtime trainer Brian ‘BoMac’ McIntyre.
Bozy Predicting Crawford Knockout
“I think it would be a good fight for Terence, and I’d put my money on Terence,” trainer Derek ‘Bozy’ Ennis told YSM Sports Mediapredicting a win for Terence Crawford over IBF junior middleweight champion Bakhram Murtazaliev if they were to fight.
“I think Terence is going to handle that guy. I know he beat him. Terence’s style. He can box, he can punch and he can move. Remember, Tim Tszyu was right in front of him, walking right at him. Terence didn’t don’t walk like that.”
Crawford, a native of Omaha, Nebraska, showed in his debut at 154 against Israil Madrimov on August 3 that he is not the same fighter in this weight class as in the past. Everything is different now for Crawford, who is a junior middleweight, against these young killers. He does not possess the power in his fists in this weight class as he had in the other three divisions, and he is getting old.
Crawford looked like a 40-year-old man against Madrimov, eating straight hands like candy. He didn’t walk away from a right hand in that fight and looked like he was hit by a train at the end of the fight. Crawford’s face was swollen and scarred.
“Terence will move his head, using his jab, using different angles, and putting him down. Terence would have a chance to stop him. I bet he would go the distance. Terence would have knocked him down. Terence is really smart,” Bozy said.
Bozy bases his views on Crawford because of his wins over fighters he beat several years ago at 147, 140 and 135. He has long been against weaker, smaller and less talented fighters than Murtazaliev. Also, the 37-year-old Crawford is no spring chicken at this late stage of his 16-year career. He also hurt his game by fighting only once a year for the last four years from 2020, and that has a lot to do with the money he made.
Crawford was hit hard by the right hand in his fight against Israil Madrimov, and it didn’t matter that he was moving his head. He was eating right hands the whole fight, and was lucky enough to get the decision. If Madrimov had been busier and possessed the same powerful left hook that Bakhram has in his arsenal, he would have beaten Crawford.
