Commentator Shawn Porter believes that Tim Tszyu (24-2, 17 KOs) came into his fight against IBF junior middleweight champion Bakhram Murtazliev (23-0, 17 KOs) with an “arrogant” mentality, which led to his quick exit, losing by third round knockout Saturday night at the Caribe Royale Resort in Orlando, Florida.
Porter had picked former WBO junior middleweight champion Tszyu to win the fight, but his prediction was completely wrong. Tszyu should have boxed and moved around the ring rather than mix it up with the big puncher Murtazliev. However, Porter admits that Tszyu hasn’t gotten that far in his eight-year professional career to be a boxer.
Tszyu has always been a one-dimensional fighter, depending 100% on his power and the ability to stalk his prey. Last night, he ran into a fighter with more power, size and skill than him in his third-round four-knockout TKO loss to Murtazaliev in their main event bout on Premier Boxing Champions on Amazon Prime Video. Tszyu was exposed. That’s basically what happened.
Could Tszyu have won if he boxed?
- Change Styles: It would have been difficult for him to switch to a plan B when things went downhill in the second round. Against Murtazaliev, Tszyu would not have been able to escape his pressure even if he had moved and boxed as Porter thought he should have. Tszyu would have had to work to switch to a boxing approach, and it is doubtful that he did.
- Power Advantage: Tszyu who chose to move and move also did not help him to take the hard punches that Murtazaliev had hit him. Those shots were brutal, and he showed knockout power with both hands. Going into the fight, the focus was on Murtzaliev’s right hand, but his left did most of the damage last night. Tszyu couldn’t land the left hooks, which looked just as powerful as the rights he was throwing at him.
- Using Jab: If Tszyu had used his jab, it is doubtful that he would have been able to keep Murtazaliev off with this tool because it was a jab of his own and he had the advantage. He caught Tszyu with his jab, knocked his head back, and tagged him with his left hooks.
“They shouldn’t try to fight fire with fire. That’s their style. I understand, but I feel that moving and returning was the right thing to do. Put that on the coaching,” said Shawn Porter to FOX Sports AustraliaDiscussing the aftermath of Tim Tszyu’s TKO loss to Bakhram Murtaliev on Saturday night. “As far as getting back to world contention, I’m not sure. When you’re on top, you’re one step away from going back.”
Porter feels Tszyu can get back on top with a win against a top-tier fighter, but wouldn’t say who that guy would be. At this point, it would be very challenging for Tszyu to defeat one of these killers at 154:
– Serhiy Bohachuk
– Israel Madrimov
– Vergil Ortiz Jr.
– Terence Crawford
Those fighters have skill and power and will take advantage of the same flaws in Tszyu’s game that Murtazaliev exposed on Saturday night. Tszyu’s promoters would be crazy to try to match him against one of those guys, even if he begged them to.
Tim must return to the domestic level
Tszyu will likely return home to Australia in his next fight and will be facing a domestic level fighter Michele Zerafa to rebuild his shattered confidence. It’s also not a gimme for Tszyu because Zerafa can punch, and if there’s anything left over from his loss to Murtazaliev here, he’ll take advantage of it.
Tszyu will have to take an ego stroke back to fight at the Australian level, but has now failed in his attempts to fight at the world level. It would be useless for him to continue to fight against top-level opposition and end up on the reporter circuit in two or three years of repeated losses.
