Bakhram Murtazaliev targets Erislandy Lara, but will the fight happen?

Bakhram Murtazaliev says he is considering moving up to 160 pounds to challenge Erislandy Lara for the WBA middleweight title because of other Both 154-pound champions are busy.

IBF junior middleweight champion Murtazaliyev (23-0, 17 KOs) appeared to be frozen, ignored and turned around by Top Rank at 154.

Too dangerous?

Bahram knocked out former WBO champion Tim Tszyu in the third round on Oct. 19, probably scaring away any contender or champion willing to take on him ahead of this demolition job. He'd be better off staying at 154 pounds, as he won't have any better luck moving up to middleweight.

Unfortunately for Murtazaliyev, it’s also unlikely that the 41-year-old Lara (31-3-3, 19 KOs) will agree to fight him. Since losing to Jarrett Hurd in 2018, Lara Croft has not fought a high-level opponent in seven years.

Over the past seven years, Lara has fought weaker fighters, including washed-up Danny Garcia, Michael Zerafa, Thomas Raman Thomas Lamanna, Gary O'Sullivan, Greg Vendetti and Ramon Alvarez.

Unless someone like Turki Sheik takes notice of Murtazaliyev and helps him get a fight, he's going to have to defend whoever his management finds in the IBF rankings. This is both good and bad.

If no quality fighter wants to take on Murtazariev, he could hold onto the IBF 154-pound title for years without losing it. But the negative side is that he wouldn't be making a ton of money if someone more famous was willing to fight him.

The price of avoidance

Prior to his victory over Tszyu, Murtazaliev had been a professional for ten years, fighting against little-known opponents. Despite never losing, his career went nowhere.

It hurts that he wasn't connected to any of the major promotional companies. Promoters like Eddie Hearn and Top Rank would still have a lot of problems with Murtazaliyev fighting because he would be perceived as having trouble with other fighters. Said it was too dangerous and didn't want to face him.

When you're as good as Murtazaliyev, sometimes it's good to not make yourself look that good because then you might get into a fight.

If both champions at 154 find a match, maybe move up to 160 and take Lara's belt?

— Bakhram Murtazhaliev (@bakhram95) January 13, 2025