Negotiations for the first free Amazon Prime Video boxing card to debut on October 19 are in advanced negotiations, three boxing officials familiar with the card confirmed to BoxingScene on Wednesday.
The scheduled main event is the return of former junior middleweight champion Tim Tszyu to a title fight in the first title defense of new IBF titleholder Bakhram Murtazaliev.
The hugely popular Australian Tszyu (24-1, 17 KOs) is recovering from a horrific head injury sustained in his lost WBO-WBC title fight on March 30 in Las Vegas. At the time, Sebastian Fundora’s elbow caused a large gash that bled profusely throughout the fight, which Fundora won by split decision.
If it had been up to Tszyu, he would have returned to the ring on August 3 against Vergil Ortiz Jr., but the cut had not healed in time.
Now that he has recovered, Tszyu is looking to regain his barweight title against Russia’s Murtazaliev (22-0, 16 KOs). The Oxnard, California-trained boxer captured the vacant belt on April 6 when he traveled to Germany to face native Jack Culcay, whom he knocked out in the 11th round.
The Murtazaliev-Tszyu card is aimed at the Caribe Royale resort in Orlando, but the location deal has not yet been finalized, sources said.
World Boxing News first reported that Tszyu-Murtazaliev would compete on October 19.
Tszyu plans to be very active and fight up to four times a year – quite an undertaking in a division that is probably one of the strongest in boxing.
Since Fundora also fights under the Premier Boxing Champions banner, he is Tszyu’s ideal opponent for 2025, but Fundora is currently in an uncertain time frame.
He is required to face new four-weight champion Terence Crawford when the WBA middleweight titleholder from Nebraska asserts his mandatory position with Fundora.
If Crawford instead opts for a lucrative date arranged by Saudi Arabia’s Turki Alalshikh against undefeated WBC interim titleholder Ortiz, then Fundora will likely face former three-time welterweight champion Errol Spence Jr. as early as October.
The free Prime Video debut, accessible via SVOD (Subscription Video On Demand), will be followed by at least four Prime Video pay-per-views.
Tszyu-Fundora was the first, followed by Saul “Canelo” Alvarez-Jaime Munguia in May, Gervonta “Tank” Davis-Frank Martin in June, Alvarez-Edgar Berlanga on September 14 and perhaps Fundora-Spence, with another Davis pay-per-view expected in November.
The free Prime Video debut was also scheduled to take place at the Orlando resort, where former super middleweight titleholder Caleb Plant was scheduled to face Trevor McCumby this weekend, but McCumby was injured and the fight was moved to the Alvarez-Berlanga card.
