Bakhram Murtazaliev retained his IBF super welterweight championship with a highlight-reel finish of Tim Tszyu Saturday. The bout took place from Orlando and streamed live on Prime Video.
The reigning and undefeated Russian had no trouble with Tszyu, improving to 23-0 by stunning the favorite. The fight was called off less than two minutes into the third round of the scheduled 12-round affair.
It marked the 17th career finish for the 31-year-old fighting out of Grozny, Russia. He claimed the vacant IBF title earlier this year with an 11th round knockout of Jack Culcay.
Tszyu, the son of former light welterweight champion Kosta Tszyu, suffered his second consecutive loss. He was stopped by Sebastian Fundora this past March for his WBO light middleweight belt after scoring two successful title defenses.
Bakhram Murtazaliev Shows His Skills Once More
“Every time I step in the ring, I’m willing to die in here,” Tszyu said (thanks to ESPN for the quotes). “The better man won tonight. After the first shot, things didn’t go according to plan. That’s boxing. You get hit and your reactions are slower. I tried my best and these things happen.”
Murtazaliev landed 67 punches with 50 being considered power shots. His opponent, meanwhile, had 37 punches land with 25 power shots.
“Nobody can doubt his heart,” Murtazaliev said. “When I landed that first shot, I knew how hard it was.”
The co-main event saw Yoenis Tellez score a stoppage of Johan Gonzalez in the seventh round. Tellez, a top prospect at 154 pounds, moved to 8-0 in his career and was competing for the first time after fighting four times in 2023.
Mateo Tapia battled to a draw with Endry Saavedra. While one judge scored it 94-92 in favor of Tapia, the other two had it 93-93 resulting in the draw.
