Tim Tszyu’s Series of Unfortunate Events

Tim Tszyu’s Series of Unfortunate Events

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On Sunday afternoon Australian time, Tim Tszyu gets a chance to get his career back on track in the co-main event of Manny Pacquaio’s return to the ring.

But how did Tszyu’s career careen off the rails? In word: misfortune.

Tszyu looked set for stardom when he demolished Tony Harrison in March of 2023 to win the WBO piece of the 154-pound titles.

The next fight should have been Jermell Charlo to win the rest of the belts in the division, but Charlo cashed in the Canelo Alvarez lottery ticket and ran around for 12 rounds, leaving Tszyu without a career-progressing dance partner in the process.

Instead, Tszyu was left to tread water.

He knocked out Carlos Ocampo in the first round and then comfortably outpointed Bryan Mendoza in a pair of keep-busy fights that did nothing for his career.

After that, it seemed like Tszyu was ready to get back on the road to stardom, booking a fight with Keith Thurman to mark his arrival in Las Vegas, the combat capital of the world.

Thurman was a fading, extremely inactive former champion with a big name that Tszyu would have demolished and got on the fast track to stardom…again.

However, Thurman pulled out of the fight 12 days before it was scheduled because of a bicep injury.

Tszyu, out of a mixture of pure balls and career awareness that rendered him unwilling to lose his Vegas date, instead fought the 6’6 154 pounder Sebastian Fundora for the WBO and WBC pieces of the 154-pound title picture.

Through two rounds of that fight, Tszyu was dominant versus his long, gangly southpaw opponent.

Tszyu was able to live inside Fundora’s reach through two rounds and landed his right hand as he pleased, both to the head and to the body.

It was a masterclass in fighting a southpaw: lead foot outside, right hand down the pipe. Tszyu had Fundora’s head snapping back like a pez dispenser.

Through two rounds, it had to be 20-18 Tszyu.

Then, disaster.

By pure accident as Tszyu stumbled slightly, he tripped into Fundora’s elbow and started pissing blood into his right eye.

It didn’t stop for 10 rounds. Nor did Tszyu.

While the fight should have been stopped either by the ref or his corner , Tszyu boxed on impressively for someone who couldn’t see through one of his eyes.

On a rewatch I had it a draw.

He still landed his right hand freely against Fundora after a couple of rounds of getting used to red film over his eye.

Ultimately, what should have been a career defining win for Tszyu turned into a moral victory where Tszyu lost the fight but won the night.

After that, Tszyu went into a fight with a little known, much pedigreed Russian fighter Bakhram Murtazaliev for the IBF part of the 154 pound title.

Tszyu was clearly still aware of the cut and hadn’t recovered mentally, but also frankly couldn’t deal with a fighter who attacked like Murtazaliev.

That fight ultimately bore out Tszyu’s biggest weakness as a fighter, which has been his biggest weakness for his whole career.

While he has a big right hand and varies his attacks well, he moves in straight lines exclusively in both attack and defence.

He’s like a missile that locks onto a target and won’t deviate from the straightest path.

Imagine if Derek Zoolander just never turned.

Defensively, that often means he gets offended if you miss him.

Against an athletic opponent like Murtazaliev, that spelled disaster.

He was double attacked consistently and couldn’t move his head enough to get away from Murtazaliev’s power without stepping to the left or the right.

Between his tactical rigidity and the fact that the best his cut-man could do in the Fundora fight was put Vaseline on the cut, it’s clear that Tszyu has a bad corner behind him.

Murtazaliev seized on that and Tszyu was destroyed inside 3 rounds.

So, in the space of two years, Tszyu went from the next king of 154 to being chewed up by a mixture of boxing’s filthy politics, short notice gambles, and tactical rigidity.

But now, after a get-right fight with Joey Spencer, Tszyu gets a chance to reclaim his stardom with a rematch against the man that kickstarted the decline, Sebastian Fundora, back in Vegas.

As we saw in the first two rounds of their first fight, Fundora is not as good as Tszyu.

His timing isn’t as good, he can’t keep Tszyu on the outside, and isn’t as sharp as Tszyu on the inside.

He also can’t punish Tszyu’s shortcomings as defensively, which I assume are still there though they weren’t even vaguely tested by Spencer.

Tszyu has to win this fight, and ideally win it violently.

Tim Tszyu is still just 30 years old, and with a legendary surname that will keep him relevant in boxing for years to come, he can still make a great career of himself even despite his deficient corner.

He can’t be the legend that I really thought he could be after he demolished Tony Harrison in March of 2023, but he can still be great.

Win this fight, get Fundora’s WBO and WBC belts, make yourself a money fight in the division again.

And stay the hell away from Bakhram Murtazaliev.