Tim Tszyu was stunned and unable to regroup

 by Keith Idec

TIM TSZYU was nonetheless bewildered by his devastating defeat greater than an hour after it occurred on Saturday night time.

The distraught Australian, seemingly concussed, couldn’t recall particulars from his unexpected four-knockdown, third-round, technical-knockout loss to unbeaten Bakhram Murtazaliev. His handlers understandably ushered an emotional Tszyu away from a small group of reporters and videographers after barely two minutes of a question-and-answer session most confounded fighters would’ve prevented altogether.

The 29-year-old Tszyu was blunt when requested what was going via his thoughts within the wake of dropping an IBF super-welterweight title struggle that a number of sportsbooks listed him as a 7-1 favorite to win at Caribe Royale Orlando in Orlando, Florida.

“What the f*ck simply occurred?,” Tszyu mentioned. “Like, what did I get hit with? I couldn’t regroup and I don’t know, man. Sh*t doesn’t go your manner and also you simply should bounce again. You already know? And I used to be constructive after the Fundora [fight], however I gotta discover extra solutions for this one. You already know, like this didn’t go based on script.

“Um, it was a little bit bit totally different. I felt unbelievable [entering the ring], I’ll be trustworthy with you. I had an awesome prep, so he obtained me, man. And he was a greater man on this night time, and we stay and we be taught.”

Tszyu (24-2, 17 KOs) suffered his second straight defeat, however this lopsided loss to Murtazaliev (23-0, 17 KOs) was catastrophic, so ugly it left followers and media varieties calling for the 29-year-old former WBO super-welterweight champion’s retirement on social media platforms.

The deep, disgusting minimize Tszyu suffered late within the second spherical of his earlier bout clearly altered the course of his 12-round, split-decision defeat to six ft 6ins southpaw Sebastian Fundora (21-1-1, 13 KOs) on March 30 at T-Cellular Area in Las Vegas. His first skilled loss knocked Tszyu out of competition for the most important fights he wished – a showdown with pound-for-pound king Terence Crawford (41-0, 31 KOs) or a rescheduled conflict with former undisputed 154-pound champ Jermell Charlo (35-2-1, 19 KOs) – but the minimize on prime of his head bled a lot and was so obstructive that the official results of the Fundora struggle ought to’ve been listed with a footnote on boxrec.com.

This utter destruction appeared inexplicable not solely to Tszyu and his staff, however to most goal observers who had watched Murtazaliev and Tszyu compete the previous couple years.

The eldest son of legendary former super-lightweight champ Kostya Tszyu, who watched his son lose to Murtazaliev from a ringside seat, suffered two flash knockdowns mixed in his first 25 skilled fights. He was dropped by Murtazaliev 3 times within the second spherical alone, and once more within the third spherical, when Tszyu’s coach, Igor Goloubev, threw within the towel.

Murtazaliev entered the ring undefeated, however he was largely often called the IBF necessary challenger who accepted step-aside charges for 4 tune-up fights that enabled Jermell Charlo to take part in title unification fights with Jeison Rosario and Brian Castano (twice) and finally his tremendous middleweight championship showdown with Mexican celebrity Canelo Alvarez. When Murtazaliev lastly fought for the then-vacant IBF 154-pound crown April 6 in Falkensee, Germany, his 11^th-round knockout of Ecuador’s Jack Culcay (33-5, 14 KOs) wasn’t televised or streamed within the UK or the U.S.

The Russian-born Murtazaliev, who lives and trains in Glendale, California, additionally demonstrated marked enchancment in three fights with Roman Kalantaryan as his head coach. Murtazaliev made certain to credit score Kalantaryan throughout his post-fight interview for the way exhausting his cornerman pushes him on the health club Kalantaryan owns in Glendale.