Fans want to know if Terence Crawford would be interested in facing IBF junior middleweight champion Bakhram Murtazaliev in a unification fight following his third round knockout of Tim Tszyu on Saturday night at Caribe Royale in Orlando, Florida.
(Credit: Mark Robinson/Matchroom Boxing)
Crawford (41-0, 31 KOs) holds the WBA 154-lb title he recently won against Israel Madrimov, and was scheduled to fight WBC/WBO champion Sebastian Fundora. That fight fell through when the WBO allowed Fundora to voluntarily defend against Errol Spence next.
Will Crawford fight Murtazaliev?
Fans expect Crawford to show courage by calling out Murtazaliev and putting together what could be a massive unification fight. Casual boxing fans on social media believe that Crawford can easily beat Murtazaliev, but I don’t see it that way.
Crawford currently has no opponent, and a fight with Murtazaliev (23-0, 17 KOs) would make a lot of sense if he had the guts to fight him. That’s a dangerous fight for Crawford because Murtazaliev hits as hard, if not harder, than ‘Little GGG’ Madrimov, but he’s aggressive, throws powerful shots with both hands, and has a high punch output. In many ways, Murtazaliev is more intimidating than Madrimov.
It is unlikely that Crawford, 37, will agree to fight Murtazaliev because he is more dangerous than his last opponent, Madrimov, and he did not win that fight earlier this year on August 3. Crawford obviously knows that if he fought Murtazaliev, there would be a good chance that he would be knocked out.
Even if Crawford fought it safe first, Murtazaliev would catch up to him for a few chips. Going 12 rounds to Murtaaliev could be a punishing match, and it doesn’t matter if Crawford runs all night. Murtazaliev would get to him enough to do a lot of damage. He would reveal Crawford’s age.
“There is no evidence that he will not be avoided again. The only good thing he has is that he has a title. So, because he has the title, it’s easy to stay busy, fight people at the IBF level and dominate, get his fans going and show us what he’s brought to the 154 division, but does Bud want Bakhram? Is Bud taking that fight?” Keith Thurman told Thaboxingvoice, asking if Terence Crawford would want to challenge IBF junior middleweight champion Bakhram Murtazaliev.
Sadly, Thurman is right about Murtazaliev possibly being avoided, and Crawford will be one of the many players at 154 who want nothing on him. Crawford still has a hopeless dream of fighting Canelo Alvarez, which will never happen. It’s like wishing the tooth fairy would show up and leave a dollar under the pillow. That fight doesn’t happen to Crawford in this life. I wish he would wake up and find a clue.
Murtazaliev Scaring Away Fighters
“Who really wants to take it and say, ‘This is my next opponent.’ Does Bakhram stay on his IBF streak, defending his title? He says that he must stay on his path until another door opens and he will do another big fight in this category of boxing in the world. But now he’s still very happy,” said Thurman.
Crawford should fight Murtazaliev to show the fans that he is fearless and work towards the goal of becoming the undisputed champion at 154. Fans can respect that because Crawford will stay busy, fighting the reigning champion again. [putting himself in a position to become the undisputed champion if he were to win and then defeat Fundora for the last two belts. If Murtazaliev was an easy mark, Crawford would likely be eager to fight him, but that’s not the case.
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