Bakhram Murtazaliev Is Watching Erislandy Lara, But Will The Fight Happen?
Bakhram Murtazaliev says he is considering moving up to 160 pounds to challenge Erislandy Lara for his WBA middleweight title because the other two champions at 154 are busy.
IBF Junior middleweight champion Murtazaliev (23-0, 17 KOs) appeared to have lost top fights at 154, was overlooked, and went astray.
Is It Too Dangerous?
Bakhram’s third-round knockout of former WBO champion Tim Tszyu on October 19 may have scared off any contenders or champions who would have been willing to fight him before that demolition job. He better stay at 154 pounds because he won’t have much luck moving up to middleweight.
Unfortunately for Murtazaliev, it is unlikely that the 41-year-old Lara (31-3-3, 19 KOs) would agree to fight him again. Lara hasn’t fought a top-level opponent in seven years since losing to Jarrett Hurd in 2018.
Lara has gone through quite a few fighters over the past seven years, including the washed up Danny Garcia, Michael Zerafa, Thomas Lamanna, Gary O’Sullivan, Greg Vendetti, and Ramon Alvarez.
Unless someone like Turki Al-Sheikh notices Murtazaliev to help him get fights, he’ll be stuck defending whoever his handlers can hold in the IBF rankings. That is good and bad.
If no good fighter ever wants to fight Murtazaliev, he can hold on to his IBF 154-lb title for years undefeated. But on the downside, he won’t make the big bucks he would have if the big guys were willing to fight him.
Avoidance Costs
Before beating Tszyu, Murtazaliev had been a professional for ten years, fighting unknown opposition. Despite never losing, his career went nowhere.
He wasn’t connected to one of the big advertising companies, and that was a bummer. Promoters such as Eddie Hearn and Top Rank would still face many problems entering Murtazaliev’s fights because he would appear too dangerous to other players to want to face him.
When you’re as good as Murtazaliev, sometimes it pays to not look good because you can get fights.
If both champions at 154 get opponents, maybe move up to 160 and take Lara’s belt?
– bakhram murtazaliev (@bakhram95) January 13, 2025
