THE FACE OF BOXING PORTRAITS OF PROMISE AND DECLINE Bakhram Murtazaliev and Dennis Milton Photographs by Wojtek Urbanek • Text by Thomas Hauser D ennis Milton turned pro on July 11, 1985, after winning four New York City Golden Gloves and
two National AAU championships. He was a prospect, compiling a 16-2-1 record in his first 19 fights. Then his management team reached for the gold ring and matched him against Julian Jackson in a fight for the WBC middleweight crown. Dennis was knocked out in the first round. In his next two outings, he was knocked out by Bernard Hopkins and Aaron Davis. He never fought again. Bakhram Murtazaliev won the IBF 154-pound title with an 11th-round stoppage of Jack Culcay on April 6, 2024. Six months later, he lit up the sky with a four-knockdown, three- round devastation of Tim Tszyu. Wojtek Urbanek photographed Murtazaliev in Las Vegas three days before Bakhram fought Jorge Fortea on the undercard of the 2019 bout between Canelo Alvarez and Sergey Kovalev. Murtazaliev was 26 years old and 16-0 with 13 KOs at the time. Fortea (20-1-1, 6 KOs) was considered a step-up fight. Bakhram did what he had to do, winning a 120-108, 119- 109, 118-110 decision. Milton was photographed at the Boxing Writers Association of America awards dinner on June 6, 2024. Dennis
seemed tired and moved slowly. His voice was soft. He had dignity, but a hard life had taken its toll. Four months later, at age 63, he suffered a damaging stroke. These two photographs capture moments when Bakhram
Murtazaliev and Dennis Milton were at opposite ends of the spectrum in boxing. They began fighting with the same dreams. Murtazaliev has come closer to achieving them. But no one knows yet how his story will end.
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