In actuality, it feels nearer to a sentence.
Matchroom Boxing bolstered that sense this week by sharing footage of Murtazaliev in coaching forward of the January 31 combat. The facility regarded intact. The steadiness regarded heavy. There was no signal of rust after fourteen and a half months away from the ring. He regarded like a fighter who has spent a very long time ready for somebody to lastly agree to face in entrance of him.
That wait was not unintentional. Since stopping Tszyu in October 2024, Murtazaliev has struggled to safe significant opposition, with huge names at 154 kilos selecting to not have interaction. The belt didn’t make him safer. It made him simpler to keep away from, and Kelly was the one prepared to signal when others didn’t. At 31, alternatives on the world stage don’t are available in bulk, and Kelly understood what turning this one down would seemingly imply.
For Kelly, the terrain shifts instantly. He enters the combat at 31 on a seven combat successful run, however the rebuild since his 2021 loss to David Avanesyan got here towards home and European stage opposition. He boxed with extra self-discipline and management throughout that run, however he has not handled sustained strain or real stopping energy on the world stage because the Avanesyan combat.
Murtazaliev provides each, and he doesn’t disguise it. He carries energy in every hand, some extent he drove residence towards Tszyu when an injured proper compelled him to depend on his left. The consequence was repeated knockdowns and a combat that ended earlier than Tszyu might alter. That efficiency didn’t elevate Murtazaliev’s profile. It turned him into an issue.
Kelly can have residence benefit at Newcastle Area. The group might be loud. The assist might be actual. None of that modifications how Murtazaliev fights. He doesn’t have interaction with the room. He closes distance and waits for harm to look.
That is the extent Kelly has mentioned he desires, and it’s the stage the place one mistake can change a profession in a single spherical.
If Murtazaliev knocks Kelly out at any level, particularly early, it might change his profession instantly. A loss like that doesn’t ship a fighter again to rebuilding mode. It drops him onto a stage the place alternatives shrink, and restoration is sluggish. Kelly is aware of that from expertise. His sixth spherical stoppage loss to Avanesyan in 2021 took years to flee. This time, the harm might arrive quicker and be tougher to reverse.
It’s a courageous selection. It’s also the type of fighters make when there may be nowhere left to cover.
