LOS ANGELES — IBF junior middleweight champion Bakhram Murtazaliev recently called out Vergil Ortiz Jr. for a fight.

The challenge was taken seriously. Last week, Main Events and Golden Boy entered negotiations for a potential summer showdown, but the fight doesn't appear to be moving forward any longer.

Murtazaliev promoter Kath Duva of Main Events said they accepted the terms but Ortiz's side didn't.

"The fight was done on our side the second it was offered. Ortiz turned it down flat," Duva told The Ring on Monday.

Duva said Murtazaliev's manager Egis Klimas was told that Ortiz himself didn't want the fight because "Bakhram is too tough."

In an interview with The Ring on Monday at Golden Boy headquarters, Ortiz promoter Oscar De La Hoya said Murtazaliev is not the ideal next matchup for Ortiz, who’s coming off two spirited slugfests in a row against Serhii Bohachuk and Israil Madrimov.

"I don't like the [Murtazaliev] fight," De La Hoya told The Ring. "Vergil just had two tough fights against Madrimov and 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, and that's why Golden Boy has been successful for so many years."

Murtazaliev (23-0, 17 KOs) made major waves in 2024, capturing the IBF title in May by knocking out Jack Culcay and defending the title in devastating fashion against Tim Tyszu in October.

Ortiz (23-0, 21 KOs) is coming off a unanimous decision win against Madrimov last month. In August, he was dropped twice against Bohachuk and sneaked past the Ukrainian via majority decision in a fight of the year contender.

Ortiz is ranked No. 2 by The Ring at 154 pounds, and Murtazaliev is rated No. 3.

“Vergil is the fight Bakhram wants and we as his promoters want,” said Duva. “The fans would love this fight if it gets made. Bakhram is a wrecking machine. You have two guys who can punch and are exciting. It has fireworks written all over it.”