Bakhram Murtazaliev is hoping to form a bond with Tim Tszyu which he believes will help both fighters grow.
Russia’s Murtazaliev, 31, handed Tszyu of Australia his second consecutive defeat as he defended his IBF junior middleweight title at the Caribe Royale in Orlando, Florida on Saturday.
Murtazaliev said he was willing to work together and spar with Tszyu 24-2 (17) in the future.
“When I landed that first big shot, I knew how hard it was – Tszyu is a real warrior,” Murtazaliev said.
Murtazaliev, 23-0 (17), waited patiently for four years to become a world champion despite being a mandatory challenger to then IBF 154-pound champ Jermell Charlo. The Russian accepted step-aside money to allow the Charlo take on other fights.
In April, Murtazaliev had to travel to Germany to win the vacant IBF crown by stopping German Jack Culcay in 11 rounds. Murtazaliev retained his belt by putting an end to Tszyu in his first title defense.
When asked if he expected to finish Tszyu in such a spectacular fashion, Murtazaliev said: “We just worked on these combinations all the time and when the fight came, it was automatic. We worked for 10 weeks on those punches that hurt him.
The defeat leaves Tszyu without a win in his last two fights. He suffered a first pro career defeat in a split decision loss to Sebastian Fundora, losing a WBC and WBO 154-pound unification championship.
Murtazaliev said his team did enough to exploit the chances of beating Tszyu.
“We created opportunities and we believed that we could win this fight.”
Bernard Neequaye is a sports journalist with a specialty in boxing coverage. He wrote a boxing column titled “From The Ringside” in his native Ghana for years. He can be reached on X (formerly Twitter) at @BernardNeequaye, LinkedIn at Bernard Neequaye and through email at bernardneequaye@gmail.com.