Within the newest of what’s grow to be a weirdly constant development for 2024, Russia’s Bakhram Murtazaliev claimed the vacant IBF tremendous welterweight title earlier as we speak with a dramatic knockout of native favourite Jack Culcay within the championship rounds.
Murtazaliev (22-0, 16 KO), who first grew to become obligatory challenger in 2019, ended a virtually 16-month layoff when he entered the ring in Brandenburg. Culcay (33-5, 14 KO) gave him no time to shake the rust, knuckling down and buying and selling leather-based with the youthful, larger man in what was by all accounts a terrific donnybrook.
By the point the eleventh rolled round, nevertheless, the 38-year-old Culcay was out of juice. A jolting left hook from Murtazaliev spelled the start of the top, and although Culcay survived the next broadside to beat the depend, the ref accurately waved it off.
Each scorecard I’ve seen throughout the Web had Culcay forward on the time, and although two judges disagreed in a uncommon Inverse German Judging phenomenon, I’ll go forward and name it a comeback. Murtazaliev follows within the footsteps of Raymond Ford, who prevented a cut up choice loss by stopping Otabek Kholmatov within the closing seconds of final month’s vacant featherweight title struggle, and Masanori Rikiishi, who took out Michael Magnesi within the twelfth spherical of a WBC tremendous featherweight eliminator lower than two weeks in the past.
With this victory, Sebastian Fundora’s upset of Tim Tszyu final week, and Israil Madrimov’s knockout of Magomed Kurbanov, all 4 of Jermell Charlo’s former titles have new properties. We’ll see how this eclectic lineup holds up within the coming months.
