Hmm…. Here’s a thought. Cut off the fertilizer totally fog now and mist whenever you can on both trunks and ease up in the watering.
Here’s the set up I use for misting or watering… all brass quick release and shut off.
The leaf burn is likely fertilizer burn. Young leaves are very susceptible to it. Azaleas They are also susceptible to desiccation, thus the misting recommendation.
Azaleas in this state do not use much water at all and don’t need fertilization. Overwatering the pot will cause the leaves to look like that too, but usually it’s more prevalent. Keep the soil moist not wet.
I know lots of people have posted severe cutbacks like you did. It works… sometimes, Especially if it’s done in early spring time.
However it’s my experience that one will get a faster and stronger response if a branch that you want to keep is cut back to leave green growth on the end. It worksall the time. This action promotes rapid back budding. Once this occurs and begins to leaf out strongly (a branchlet forms), one can move downward and cut more… and more as needed. I actually like to wait a bit to ensure maximum budding and for branchlets to form. Others may disagree. Yet that’s my experience in doing over 50 cutbacks this year. Some in pots, some in the ground.
Here’s-an example. The branch on this Secchu no Matsu is too long and bare with growth near the end. The look an azalea has that hasn’t been pruned back at that point for years. After flowering it was cutback to the green growth closest to the trunk, removing two inches. The remaining two growth tips were cut back on the end to stop the growth.
This technique results in keeping the sap flow through the branch, while pushing the growth back to activate the dormant bud points. See photos.
Once this inner growth flushes out, I’ll cutback further to bring the branch in line with the profile….
Cheers
DSD sends
). 
