“Stop Hiding!” Lubin Tells Murtazaliev After TKO Win

Erickson Lubin earned the obligatory spot to problem Bakhram Muratazalev for his IBF junior middleweight title by knocking out Ardreal Holmes Jr. within the eleventh spherical of a title eliminator final Saturday night time on the Silver Spurs Area in Kissimmee, Florida.

After the combat, Lubin (27-2, 19 KOs) referred to as out Murtazaliev (23-0, 17 KOs), telling him to “cease hiding,” and gave him a deadline till Could 18th. Bakhram was seemingly hoping for one thing higher than Lubin after knocking out former WBO 154-lb champion Tim Tszyu within the third spherical on October nineteenth final 12 months. Nevertheless, that efficiency and the IBF’s 10-lb rehydration rule scared away the division’s high contenders and different champions. Lubin is the most effective Murtazaliev can get, as a result of not less than he desires to combat him.

“Cease Hiding!”

“It’s a title shot subsequent. I’m combating for the IBF title. Bakhram, cease hiding! You bought till Could 18. Let’s signal the deal and get it finished,” stated Erickson Lubin in his post-fight interview after stopping Holmes Jr.

In different interviews, Lubin has hinted that he’ll field Murtazaliev and present him one other aspect of his sport. We noticed a few of that in his combat towards Jesus Ramos.

Boxing followers on social media aren’t giving Lubin a lot probability of beating Murtazaliev as a result of he’s folded up to now when combating large punchers. Jermell Charlo and Sebastian Fundora stopped him. Since his loss to Fundora, he hasn’t fought anybody practically nearly as good.

Lubin didn’t look that nice towards Holmes Jr. He received hit loads within the combat, and was fortunate that his opponent wasn’t an enormous puncher. Each of Lubin’s eyes have been badly swollen by the top of the combat, and you can inform that he actually needed to push himself to get the win.

Lubin has arguably misplaced two out of his final 4 fights as a result of his 12-round unanimous resolution win over Jesus Ramos in September 2023 was a questionable one that might have gone the opposite method. If the judges had gotten it proper, Lubin’s document could be 2-2 going right into a conflict towards Murtazaliev.