Bakhram Murtazaliev defended his IBF super welterweight title in some style at Caribe Royale in Orlando, defeating former world champion Tim Tszyu, earning a third-round stoppage victory in his first defense.

Murtazaliev (23-0, KO17) won the vacant title in Germany in April, some 16 months after his last fight against Jack Culcay, earning a knockout victory in the penultimate round, while Tszyu (24-2, KO17) previously served as WBO champion , but lost that belt in an attempt to add the WBC crown in March against Sebastian Fundora, losing by split decision.

In this round, Tszyu was penalized for being vulnerable to counterattacks, and in the second round, Murtazaliev did a perfect job of timing Tszyu’s attacks to get a challenging counter left hook knockdown. With the Australian on unsteady legs on the restart, he came again from another left hand from the champion, and as Tszyu tried to fight fire with fire after beating the count again, Murtazaliev rocked him with a shaky left hand and accumulating punches knocked Tszyu to the deck for a third time. A minute break between rounds didn’t support as Tszyu made the same mistakes again in round three, and when he went on the attack with Murtazaliev on the ropes, the Russian again unleashed a counter left hook that left Tszyu dropped badly.

He defeated the count again, but this time there was no respite as he sluggishly tried to defend himself under bulky fire until finally Tszyu’s horn had seen enough and threw in the towel.

In an absolute undercard war, there was no separating undefeated Australian middleweights Cesar Mateo Tapia (17-0-1, KO10) and Endry Saavedra (16-1-1, KO13), who fought to a dramatic majority draw for the vacant IBF title International. Tapia was down twice in the third round and once in the ninth round, but scored a knockdown of his own in the fifth round, with one judge declaring him the winner 94-92, but two scores at 93-93 ensured a stalemate.

In the second ten contests, super welterweight star Yoenis Tellez (9-0, KO7) impressed again, defeating Johan Gonzalez (35-4, KO34) in seven rounds.

Cuban heavyweight hopeful Dainier Pero (9-0, KO7) defeated Willie Jake (11-6-2, KO3) in the third of a scheduled eight rounds, and Justin Viloria (7-0, KO5) scored a victory in the seventh round against Diuhl Olguin (16-41-7, KO10) in a super featherweight fight.

Super bantamweight Carlos Jackson (20-2, KO13) was upset by Ryan Lee Allen (11-8-1, KO6) as Allen scored in the third round and Daniel Blancas (11-0, KO5) scored in the win in the super middleweight over six with Marco Delgado (7-6-1, KO5).

Gary Antonio Russell (20-1, KO13) returned to the ring for the first time since October 2022 and won by fourth-round stoppage over super bantamweight Jaden Burnias (6-3-2, KO4).

Adam Azim further improved his credentials at the Copper Box Arena by defeating Ohara Davies in the eighth round of their 12-man super lightweight competition.

Azim (12-0, KO9) entered this fight as the European champion, having defeated Franck Petitjean in ten rounds, and was last seen defending that belt, defeating Enock Poulsen in five rounds, Davies (25-4, KO18) was belatedly awarded he won the world title nomination in January against Ismael Barroso, but the Venezuelan surprised Davies and won the WBA title within two minutes, winning after a break, which was considered the last chance for the Londoner.

Azim largely dictated the fight, landing striking combinations in the opening round and staying out of trouble to take a comfortable early lead. Azim took advantage in the fifth set with a left hook to the body with Davies on board, which forced Davies to retreat and his corner was ready to throw in the towel towards the end of the net. It was basically survival mode for Davies, but his resistance ended in the eighth period when Azim uncorked one and then another that left Davies on his haunches where he did his best to ensure Azim won.

Lewis Edmondson (10-0, KO3) won the vacant British and Commonwealth featherlight heavyweight titles with an upset majority verdict against former champion Dan Azeez (20-2-1, KO13). It was a close fight that saw the more inexperienced Edmondson take home the titles, with the score of 114-114 being overturned by scores of 114-113 and 115-112 in favor of the Southampton fighter who took the belts.

Anthony Yarde (26-3, KO24) appeared on the Boxxer card here, and after defeating Ralfs Vilcans (17-2, KO7) in the first round of their featherlight heavyweight fight, he ultimately had to work difficult to score points ten rounds. Yarde knocked down the Latvian within the first ten seconds, but was forced to earn the win as he was adjudged to have won 98-92.

Tulani Mbenge (21-2, KO15) of South Africa became the modern IBO welterweight champion, winning the vacant title with a points victory over Michael McKinson (26-2, KO4). The guests won decisively with two scores of 116-112 and a third score of 117-111.

In the tenth round, heavyweight Jeamie TKV (7-1, KO4) won by sixth-round contusion against Franklin Ignatius (6-1-1, KO1). The ending was straightforward as TKV landed a few punches that Ignatius looked like he could handle, but the referee thought otherwise and waved the fight off.

The only winner of the eighth round was in the bantamweight division, where Fran Hennessy (5-0, KO1) defeated Brazilian Ana Karla Vaz De Moraes (5-1, KO2) 78-74.

Former world champion Shannon Courtenay (8-3, KO3) appeared in the only six-round round, and her career was in ruins after returning after almost two years of absence, when she lost on points to Catherine Tacone Ramos (5-3- 1, KO0), who won 58-56.

Middleweight debutant Sam Hickey (1-0, KO0) won all four rounds against John Henry Mosquera (5-19, KO1).

Boxing legend Larry Holmes has commented on Mike Tyson and Jake Paul’s upcoming fight, suggesting that Tyson could “embarrass” the YouTube star when their clash takes place next month.

The anticipated fight was initially scheduled for July, but had to be postponed due to the flare-up of Tyson’s ulcer. The heavyweight icon was advised to stop his training regime, but he is now back in action and has assured his followers that he will be ring-ready in November.

The rescheduled fight was scheduled for November 15 at the AT&T Arena in Arlington, Texas, and the bout was officially recognized as a professional heavyweight match. Since the fight was confirmed, there have been widespread concerns for Tyson’s welfare, given his age at which he will step into the ring again.

Nevertheless, former IBF and WBC heavyweight champion Holmes, known as “The Easton Assassin”, is not worried one bit. After experiencing Tyson’s power firsthand in a 1988 match that didn’t end well for Holmeshe, he seems confident in Tyson’s abilities.

Despite initial resistance, Tyson ultimately knocked out the heavyweight legend in the fourth round. Holmes admitted to feeling humiliated after the match and predicted a similar fate for Paul next month.

In an interview with OLBG, Holmes revealed: “Tyson leans in, moves his head and gets close. He’ll take a punch or two to get close, and once he gets close, he’ll start working the body and then that head.

“Mike knocked me down, he hit me so tough I went ‘wooooo’. And he beat me. It was embarrassing. I remember the right hand he hit me with – I thought “he should have been locked up” because of the power, and he kept coming growling like Joe Frazier. I expect Mike will have to fight this fight.

“I watched a clip of Mike Tyson this morning and all I can say is Jake needs to be ready if he’s going to fight Mike. Mike will be able to last two minute rounds.

“Mike comes to fight, when he allows himself to, he starts working on you. And that’s exactly what I saw today. And if this guy tries to trade blows with Mike, he loses.

“Mike can punch. I was fighting with Mike and he hit me and that was the end. Earnie Shavers was one of the hardest hitters of all time, and Mike is right up there with him. Earnie Shavers was the heaviest I’ve ever seen. you’ve ever faced, but when Tyson punches, he’s trying to kill you.

“Mike can take a good punch. I hit him several times and he kept attacking. Jake will hit him, but Mike will keep hitting him. Mike better be ready to roll with the punches all the time.”

Although Tyson’s last professional fight took place in 2005 and ended with a defeat against Kevin McBride, he returned to the ring four years ago for an exhibition match with Roy Jones Jr. Meanwhile, Paul comes into this fight buoyed by his victory over Mike Perry last July.