Tim Tszyu may be down, but he is far from out, although his plans to become a great boxer will have to take a different route after his points loss to Sebastian Fundora on Sunday.
Tszyu entered his Las Vegas super welterweight world title fight against Fundora as one of the sport’s hottest properties, but a stray elbow from his 197-centimeter opponent left him with an open head wound at the end. of the second round.
It left him unable to see clearly for 10 rounds and ruined his plans to emulate his father Kostya as a unified world champion.
The 29-year-old described the fight as a “bloodbath” on social media, and took the split decision loss (his first loss in 25 fights) with grace despite the unfortunate circumstances.
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“You’re a legend. Congratulations on the win, man. “You’re a fucking warrior,” he told Fundora in the locker room after the fight.
“(The belt is) all yours, man. The victory was hard-earned.”
Tszyu relinquished his WBO super welterweight belt and missed the chance to claim the vacant WBC belt in Las Vegas to take his place among boxing’s elite.
Before the loss, the 29-year-old had a $10 million deal on the table to fight pound-for-pound king Terence Crawford or former unified welterweight champion Errol Spence Jr.
Tszyu will likely need to enact a rematch clause with Fundora to win back his belts and get his world domination plans back on track.
“It definitely affects the schedule,” manager George Rose said.
“Everything we had planned for this year is now rearranged, but I don’t think it’s for a bad reason. It just means there’s another fight for Tim to consider.
“I would love to see Tim have a rematch next, but if an opportunity arises to fight Errol Spence Jr or an opportunity to fight Terence Crawford… if one of those arises, it’s foolish not to consider it.
“These are fights he would love to have.”
Rose said talks about a rematch with Fundora would begin in the coming days, with possibilities of a return to Las Vegas or a home fight.
“We’ll discuss when we activate it or if any of these other big fish want to jump in and swim with Tim,” he said.
While Tszyu’s world title no longer exists, Rose insisted the Sydney fighter had lost no fans, given his willingness to take on the “Towering Inferno” on less than two weeks’ notice after his original opponent Keith Thurman , will be injured.
Even American commentators applauded Tszyu for his bravery in continuing against Fundora despite being virtually blind in one eye.
“It just showed what a warrior Tim really is and how he’s ready to come in and put everything on the line,” Rose said.
“He’s a guy who couldn’t see for 10 rounds and still managed to take it to a split decision.”
Hoping he hadn’t fallen down the pecking order, Tszyu was devastated but determined to bounce back quickly.
“If it’s not a win, I’m not satisfied and I’m pretty devastated. It is what it is,” he said.
“But I will recover.”
He said he has no regrets that his corner did not push for the fight to be declared a no-contest despite the “cascade” of blood, which would have given Tszyu more time to prepare for the clumsy southpaw.
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AAP