Could Bakhram Murtazaliev Eye Israil Madrimov Next?
Newly crowned IBF junior middleweight champion Bakhram Murtazaliev (22-0, 16KO) made an incredible late-rally comeback to score the knockout victory. With the title firmly in his hands, a unification with WBA champion “The Dream” Israil Madrimov (10-0-1, 7KO) could be on the horizon.
Murtazaliev has the boxing community buzzing after picking up an amazing eleventh-round victory. The Russian was getting severely beaten and outboxed by “Golden Jack” Jack Culcay for the first ten rounds.
In the championship rounds, he took advantage of Golden Jack slowing down and began to land hard shots. Realizing the title was within his grasp, Murtazaliev dropped Culcay after landing repeated punishing shots in the eleventh round.
Despite getting up, the referee waved off the fight as a stumbling the German fell into his arms.
COULD A UNIFICATION BE NEXT?
With the junior middleweight division wide open, Murtazaliev versus Madrimov would make the winner the top dog of the division.
In his last outing, The Dream captured the vacant title by defeating then-undefeated fighter Magomed Kurbanov on March 8. The Uzbekistani is a decorated amateur and superb boxer who can turn on the power at any moment. In addition, his rise to the top came under the watchful eye of Eddie Hearn, who signed Madrimov to Matchroom Boxing in 2019.
Murtazaliev had to wait for a shot at the title despite the IBF ordering a fight with then-unified champion Jermell Charlo in 2023. Before fighting Culcay for the title, he was out of the ring for two-years, which explains why he looked sluggish in the fight. His power was the deciding factor in the fight, yet he’s going to have to step it up in order to be effective against a boxer the caliber of Madrimov.
Hopefully, the powers that be look to make the fight at some point in 2024.
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