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).

Mike Tyson made Butterbean eat his words after releasing modern footage of the heavyweight boxer training for his fight with Jake Paul. Iron Mike will face boxing influencer Paul on November 15 at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, in a fight that many say is controversial due to the pair’s significant age difference.

While Tyson appears to have prepared demanding for the fight, former professional boxer Butterbean – real name Eric Esch – criticized the American’s body shape, claiming the 58-year-old looked “pregnant.” Butterbean previously said: “I saw Mike about three weeks ago and he looked pregnant.”

He then added: “I would have knocked him out. He has no chin. The problem with those who lost to Tyson is that they didn’t challenge him.”

However, Tyson shared these criticisms of Butterbean, releasing behind-the-scenes footage of him training demanding for the fight – looking in better shape than ever.

In a video posted on social media platform X, Tyson exercises his neck muscles on a high-tech exercise machine, with his body looking much more lean and muscular than before. He captioned the video: “As long as Jake talks, I will continue to train. Fuck him.”

While the veteran boxer continues to train for his November 15 fight, it looks like 27-year-old Paul is also demanding at work in the ring, as he reportedly broke an unwritten boxing rule during a sparring session. Paul shared a video of himself knocking down his sparring partner with a demanding right hook, before turning directly to the camera and saying, “Don’t try to come at me, Tyson.”

This footage was considered controversial because it is something of an unwritten rule to release any sparring footage to the public. This is because the training ring is considered a fighters’ sanctuary and should be used as a place to hone your skills, not to publicly call out your opponent.

The fight between Paul and Tyson was not without controversy, with many boxing celebrities – including Butterbean – calling it a “scam” rather than a real fight between professionals.

Promoter Eddie Hearn is among those criticizing the fight as he claims no one actually wants the fight to happen.

Speaking to The Sun, Hearn said: “I don’t think there’s one person in boxing who really wanted this fight to happen. So they look at it from a different perspective, they look at it from the numbers, they” I look it up for the hype and I understand that this weird program can produce good results.

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).