SYDNEY, Australia – When on Wednesday Tim Tszyu walks to the ring at the TikTok Entertainment Centre to confront Anthony Velazquez, the pressure he will feel under may prove greater than at any other time in his life.
He has previously, and in many respects unfairly, been dismissed on account of the opportunities presented to him by his surname, regardless of those opportunities coming with the burden that exists with being the son of a sports-fanatical nation’s finest fighter of all time.
The privilege of privacy taken for granted by almost all others also wasn’t one Tszyu has ever been familiar with. There is little question that his profile, and therefore in most respects career, has been enhanced by his father being an International Boxing Hall of Fame fighter, but Kostya Tszyu and his family became the public property of a colossal country that counter-intuitively has an island’s mentality, and therefore the pain of the break-up of their family was endured with the same spotlight as the steps Tim Tszyu has made as a professional fighter, ensuring that he has never had anywhere to hide.
If a refusal to hide has defined much of Tszyu’s career – there existed kinder alternatives to the damaging fights he so willingly embraced with Sebastian Fundora, Bakhram Murtazaliev and Fundora again – it has unquestionably also defined his response to the last of those three defeats. Conventional wisdom dictates that his body – and indeed mind – requires a lengthy period of recovery from so chastening a chapter, but Tszyu, much in the same way that he responded to being knocked down by Murtazaliev by almost immediately returning to his feet and willingly putting himself back into harm’s way, has defied that wisdom and even the wisdom of some of those around him to fight for a third time in 2025.
When George Rose of his promoters No Limit spoke in August of his expectation that Tszyu wouldn’t fight again before the new year he unquestionably meant it. Jeff Fenech, more recently recruited as an advisor to the 31 year old’s new-look team, also spoke of the need for greater patience and more time. Yet less than two months after announcing the appointment of the Cuban Pedro Diaz as his new trainer, Tszyu returns to the ring against an undefeated opponent recognised as a puncher, gambling with his career when he doesn’t need to, but with the conviction he will no doubt require if he is to succeed.
“When you’ve got a free mind you can really do anything, you know what I mean?” Tszyu told BoxingScene. “And I’ve been watching a lot of videos – Tommy Hearns, when he used to box he used to float. His shoulders were nice and relaxed; he used to flick, bah, bah, bah; move, bah-bah-bah, bah-bah-bah. I haven’t been doing that for eight, 10 years. I haven’t been watching this shit. Why? ‘Cause it felt like this boxing became a job, and not a love.”
Tszyu spoke like a man in love with his profession when he first spoke about the influence of his time in Miami under Diaz. The experienced Diaz is the figurehead of his new-look team – Mike Altamura and Darcy Ellis are his new co-managers – after Igor Goloubev, his uncle and long-term trainer, and Glenn Jennings, not only his manager but once the manager of his father, were, in the aftermath of the second defeat by Fundora, dismissed. The strength that he has taken from his new team and surroundings are certain to also come with an increased sense of pressure – in addition to defeat having the potential to end his career, to justify the upheaval around him and jeopardising some valued long-term relationships he has no choice but to win.
“It took years in the making,” he responded when asked the point at which he decided he needed such change.
“It was difficult [having those conversations], but, right now, it’s done, and I’ve moved on, and I’m looking forward to the future. They were truthful, and much needed.
“I used to just rely on my natural, God-given abilities; hard work; my athleticism, and that’s it.”
Neither Tszyu nor Diaz, who perhaps understandably has cut a defensive figure when asked about criticism from Fenech and Velazquez’s trainer Hector Bermudez, have promised a technically transformed fighter. It is Tsyzu’s psyche – and he has never appeared anything other than fearless, which at times it has been tempting to conclude has contributed to the problem – that appears to have benefitted most from his association with Diaz, and to the extent that there are times that someone recognised as typically the driest of individuals speaks as though under a spell.
“He doesn’t just train you physically, but he trains you psychologically as well, and the power of the mind is crazy, you know?” Tszyu said. “You can really work wonders and do everything if it starts in here [the mind]. I think that’s been the biggest key for me – just being relaxed, and rejuvenated from that.
“He just sits you down; talks to you, with his knowledge and expertise. He’s very relatable and believable. ‘The only thing right now is victory.’ If you go and watch his press conferences and stuff like that, the way he talks – he’s a very intelligent man. The way he comes out with these words and stuff like that. I wouldn’t need to explain if you watch it – his power is through hard work and the mental fortitude.
“We’ve made it that it hasn’t become about selling the fight and all this. It’s become about me; doing it for myself; and the reason why I came to this sport – and the reason why I started this sport – is because of myself. It’s the only reason I’m doing it.
“Intelligence. Being smart in there. Having a plan. From round one to three; round three to seven; seven to 10. What happens if this goes this way? What happens if this goes this way? What happens if the opponent does this? What is the opponent good at? What is the opponent bad at? What does he do after he throws certain punches? What does he do before he throws certain punches? What does he do after I throw certain punches? It’s all stuff that I’ve never really had in my mind before I go into a fight.”
Tszyu, lest it be forgotten, for the first time in his bruising career looked defeated in the rematch in July with Fundora. The same spirit that meant he relished that rematch over a profile-building contest with Keith Thurman and that carried him to his post-fight press conference after the defeat by Murtazaliev while clearly concussed was leaving him. Before that rematch he relished the reality that they fought on the undercard of Mario Barrios-Manny Pacquiao because it removed from him the pressure of promoting, as the highest-profile fighter, a pay-per-view contest; Tszyu has long been the focal point of Australian boxing and therefore of the business plans of No Limit and broadcasters Main Event. He will remain that focal point if he continues to win, but, increasingly, he speaks even less like the property of a marketing machine and more like a fighter determined only to win.
“To a certain extent [that’s Diaz’s influence],” he said. “Yeah. ‘Cause there’s so much people want from you, and when you’ve got a whole country and industry relying on you, it is distracting.
“It doesn’t really matter who’s doing it. I’m in no competition with no one. It’s not like someone’s taken the mantle away – it’s got nothing to do with that. We’re all coming together and growing the sport and that’s all that matters to me.”
Asked if he regardless expected Velazquez to be prepared for his profile and his value in his home city, he responded: “Probably not. But in all honesty, I don’t really give a fuck about that either. Maybe I used to care about that, but now I don’t. All I’m doing this for is myself – that’s it.
“I think he’s good. But he’s never fought anyone like me. Pressure; power; he’s got the Philly shell; hands up; tight defence. So, yeah, he’s going to bring a challenge. [His weaknesses] are for me to exploit.”
When he spoke to BoxingScene, shortly before the 29-year-old Velazquez’s arrival in Sydney and then the Tszyu Fight Club, Tszyu’s body language and demeanour reflected the relaxed, composed manner with which he spoke. He cut a more tense figure when Velazquez presented himself in a way Tszyu considered less than respectful. Two days later, in a terrorist shooting in nearby Bondi Beach, 16 residents of Tszyu’s city were murdered and their fight was then left in doubt. Tszyu, Velazquez, No Limit and Main Event will proceed with Wednesday’s 157lbs catchweight contest, but it will not only take place on Tszyu’s broad shoulders, but in what has become a deeply wounded city, presenting him with perhaps the biggest opportunity of all and one beyond the most powerful parents’ and promoters’ powers – that of potentially being a wider symbol of rebirth.
“All my ‘day ones’ – everyone that’s really been with me; stuck with me – can come and watch without having to travel far,” he said. “So that’s good about that. But, yeah, it doesn’t matter where I am right now.
“I’m just chilled, man. Honestly. I’m chilled; relaxed. But I’ve got victory on my mind, and that’s it.”
