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Bakhram Murtazaliev Accepts Fundora's Title Unification Fight Challenge: 'I'm Ready'
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Bakhram Murtazaliev Accepts Fundora's Title Unification Fight Challenge: 'I'm Ready'
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Mar 23, 2025
Manouk Akopyan
Mar 23, 2025
1 min read
Unified junior middleweight champion Sebastian Fundora made easy work of Chordale Booker on Saturday, stopping the outmatched challenger in just four rounds. Immediately following the knockout win at the Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas, Fundora mapped out hi...
Unified junior middleweight champion Sebastian Fundora made easy work of Chordale Booker on Saturday, stopping the outmatched challenger in just four rounds.
Immediately following the knockout win at the Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas, Fundora mapped out his desired next dances.
“Whoever they have for me next, I'll be ready,” said Fundora. “I want the IBF champion Bakhram Murtazaliev, plus Xander Zayas is the WBO mandatory, and I also want Errol Spence Jr. We have [the WBC and WBO] belts, we have to defend them, and if anyone is willing to unify, let's do that too."
On Friday, WBO president Gustavo Olivieri announced that he’ll recommend Zayas (21-0, 13 KOs), the sanctioning body’s No. 1 contender, to be Fundora’s mandatory challenger.
Fundora (22-1-1, 14 KOs) has also been long linked to a fight against Spence (28-1, 22 KOs), but the matchup never came to fruition over the last year, which is why Fundora took the stay-busy bout with Booker in the first place. Spence has not fought since his one-sided stoppage loss to Terence Crawford in July 2023.
With the 154-pound WBA title holder Crawford (41-0, 31 KOs) headed toward a September showdown against super middleweight king Canelo Alvarez – and only interested in facing the last man standing at junior middleweight – the remaining title unification fight left on the table for Fundora is Murtazaliev.
“Congratulations Fundora, great performance. I’m ready!” Murtazaliev said on social media following the latest win by “The Towering Inferno.”
Murtazaliev (23-0, 17 KOs) is having a difficult time finding an attractive opponent following an eye-opening, three-round demolition of Tim Tszyu in October.
Earlier this month, Vergil Ortiz Jr.’s team turned down a fight against Murtazaliev.
"I don't like the [Murtazaliev] fight," De La Hoya told The Ring. "Vergil just had two tough fights against [Israil] Madrimov and [Serhii] Bohachuk. Anybody in their right mind knows that's two tough fights. He needs a welcome-home type of fight against a top-10 kind of fighter. If you go straight into the fire, what are we going to do? Burnout Vergil? No. I have my plan.”
Manouk Akopyan is a lead writer for The Ring. He can be reached on X and Instagram @ManoukAkopyan.
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Manouk Akopyan
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