I am fan. That was an impressive performance last night. But I must say that Tim Tszyu is an easy fighter to find. I do wonder if Murtazaliev has the hand and foot speed to handle the top guys like Crawford or move up to 160 and take on a guy like Janibek. I don't see particularly fast hands or feet. If he fights Crawford I will be rooting for Murtazaliev.
this is the first time crawford will not have a reach advantage if they do fight. I will also be rooting for murtazaliev
his hands are fast enough. and he looks well trained. that snap left hook was worked on in camp. it was automatic as soon as he detected that lean that says tim is cocking his hook to the body. catches him with his weight on his left leg, which will throw his balance even if you dont connect flush. we will see how he does against guys less predictable, but hes no bum.
He already popped a PBC cherry in Tszyu, so they’re not gonna let him anywhere near the Spence/Fundora winner. He should gun for the winner of Madrimov/Bohachuk(which will be Madrimov) as Crawford pursues the Spence/Fundora winner. Madrimov/Murtazaliev is a mouth watering match up for us boxing gigs. 154lbs is becoming my favourite division out of nowhere.
Just saw the highlights but I noticed he uses a few of the same setups Kovalev does: He does a big feint with the 2 to load the 1 and throw a power jab/hook shot He throws a 1-2-1 on a retreating opponent with the final 1 being fully loaded Great to see a style imprint on another fighter like that. He dips his shoulders and moves around a bit like Kovalev too. I don't think he's nearly as good, but I'm excited to see more.
There's a reason for that, Kovalev took him under his wing a few years ago, and was so high on him, that he was the one that brought Murtazaliev to Kathy Duva and got him signed at Main Events. So clearly The Krusher taught him some of his patented moves.
