Sunday marked the one-year anniversary of Bakhram Murtazaliev's career-defining victory.

The unbeaten Russian brutalized Tim Tszyu on October 19, 2024, in Orlando, Florida. Tszyu was a 7-1 favorite, but Murtazaliev tore through the former WBO junior middleweight champion.

The taller, hard-hitting Murtazaliev dropped the courageous Australian four times, three times in the second round and once in the third. Tszyu’s trainer, Igor Goloubev, threw in the towel after Tszyu got up from the fourth knockdown.

Murtazaliev made a fantastic first defense of the IBF junior middleweight championship he won when knocking out Germany’s Jack Culcay in the 11th round six months earlier in Berlin. He and his team left Caribe Royale Resort that night thinking he’d have his pick from a list of intriguing potential opponents within a stacked division.

A demoralized Murtazaliev hasn’t fought since.

Main Events CEO Kathy Duva, Murtazaliev’s promoter, thought she had finalized a deal for Murtazaliev to fight Vergil Ortiz Jr. on a Riyadh Season card earlier this year, but she was informed Ortiz hadn’t accepted it.

Duva later was sure Murtazaliev would make a mandated defense of his IBF belt against Erickson Lubin, but Lubin withdrew from the process before a scheduled purse bid because he instead decided to oppose Ortiz for his WBC interim title November 8 at Dickies Arena in Fort Worth, Texas.

Ortiz (23-0, 21 KOs), of Grand Prairie, Texas, is The Ring’s No. 1 junior middleweight contender for a vacant championship. Murtazaliev (23-0, 17 KOs) is ranked fourth and Lubin (27-2, 19 KOs), a southpaw from Orlando, is fifth.

Her fighter’s inactivity has been beyond frustrating for Duva, who feels “terrible” that Murtazaliev hasn’t been able to capitalize on a very impressive victory over Tszyu.

“We thought that when Bakhram got a title in such a hot division that this would be great,” Duva told The Ring. “We’d be able to fight all the champions and they’d all wanna unify, but nobody seems to want to do that. Think about it – Lubin turned down a title fight to go and fight somebody without a title. I know [Ortiz] has some sort of title, but does that count now?”

Lubin informed The Ring that he chose Ortiz over Murtazaliev because it’s a higher-profile fight for more money. As much as Lubin wants to become a world champion, simple economics sent him in a different direction even after he knocked out Ardreal Holmes Jr. (17-1, 6 KOs) in the 11th round of their IBF elimination match May 10 in Kissimmee, Florida.

Josh Kelly is interested in challenging Murtazaliev, but their handlers haven’t secured the requisite financing for the fight.

England’s Kelly (17-1, 11 KOs), ranked third among the IBF’s contenders, is its highest-rated available challenger for Murtazaliev. The IBF has scheduled a purse bid for Murtazaliev-Kelly for Tuesday, but it’s unclear if Kelly would accept an 85-15 purse split that favors Murtazaliev because Kelly isn’t the No. 1 contender.

The No. 1 position in the IBF’s junior middleweight ratings has been vacant since Lubin decided to fight Ortiz.

The 32-year-old Murtazaliev has stayed in the gym, but he and his trainer, Roma Kalantaryan, aren’t optimistic about making his second title defense anytime soon.

“When the cameras are on, everybody’s just talking, talking, talking,” Kalantaryan said. “But nobody wants to fight. It’s pretty frustrating. The guy has been training for almost a year, getting ready for all kinds of fights they’re promising, and nothing’s working out. Everybody says yes, but as soon as it’s time to sign the [contract], no one’s doing it.”

Murtazaliev’s marketability in the United States, or lack thereof, has hurt his cause as well when opponents like Lubin assess their options. Main Events doesn’t have a deal with a network or streaming service, either, which has made moving Murtazaliev more challenging.

Murtazaliev’s predicament will worsen if he doesn’t get a fight scheduled soon to take place prior to February 17, the start of Ramadan. A devout Muslim, Murtazaliev prefers not to train or fight during his religion’s month for fasting, prayer, service, communal gathering and spiritual development.

Ortiz’s trainer, Robert Garcia, told The Ring late in the summer that the IBF’s rehydration limit removed Murtazaliev from their list of possible opponents. Unlike the WBA, WBC and WBO, the IBF prohibits champions and challengers in all weight classes from coming in more than 10 pounds above division limits at second-day weigh-ins for title fights it sanctions.

“I don’t think it’s the IBF rehydration clause and all of that,” Murtazaliev said. “It’s all about money. They’re probably not getting paid enough to take a fight like this and that’s why they won’t fight me. But I have no problem fighting anybody. It doesn’t matter who.”

Duva believes raised financial expectations of fighters, managers and promoters at a time when Riyadh Season is funding cards in Saudi Arabia, the U.S. and the UK have devalued world titles and thus made it harder to match Murtazaliev.

“People don’t want the title anymore,” Duva said. “It’s just really frustrating, but this is where we are. I think you’re gonna find stuff like this happening a lot more often. I don’t think this is an isolated incident that has to do with Bakhram. It has to do with the fact that people’s expectations have been raised to such a level that, suddenly, if they’re not gonna get a fortune, they don’t wanna fight.

“Bakhram, to his credit, has said, ‘Whatever it is, I’ll take the fight. I wanna keep my title.’ He’s been offered far more money to go to Russia and fight, but he’d have to give up the title and thus far chosen not to do that. I give him credit. He’d rather fight a tougher fight for less money, when he could go to Russia for infinitely more money and it’s basically, ‘Bring your own opponent.’”