Former IBF junior middleweight champion Bakhram Murtazaliev and his team’s petition to the IBF for an immediate rematch against Josh Kelly was denied by the sanctioning body, according to his promoter Kathy Duva for Main Events.
FightsATW reached out to Duva to see if a decision had been made on the petition to the IBF. “Yea, they immediately turned us down,” said Duva. When asked about the plans for Murtazaliev now that it seems the rematch isn’t likely to happen anytime soon, Duva replied, “Not yet. It’s Ramadan. He’s taking a break.”
The fight in question took place on January 31 in Newcastle, England, as Kelly defeated Murtazaliev by majority decision with the judges scoring it 115-111, 114-113, and 113-113. The issue was that one of the judges scored the last round 10-10, which is not illegal but often unusual in a fight. If that round had been given to Murtazaliev, the fight would have resulted in a majority draw, and Murtazaliev would have kept his title.
According to Dan Rafael and followed by Jake Donovan, Team Murtazaliev requested an “immediate rematch under IBF Rule 5K” days after the fight. The rule that accompanied the petition states “the Championships Chairman and the President, in their discretion, may direct two contestants to engage in a rematch for the Championship within a prescribed time.”
With the IBF turning down Murtazaliev, the 33-year-old from Grozny, Russia, might face an even tougher time trying to secure a fight now that he’s all risk with no reward without the title around his waist. There are still some great matchups that can be made with Murtazaliev, but it will now be up to his team to see if they can make them.
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