SYDNEY, Australia – The final pre-fight press conference for Tim Tszyu-Anthony Velazquez was cancelled out of respect for the 16 victims shot in Sunday evening’s terrorist shooting in nearby Bondi Beach.
Many of those involved in boxing are far too often too easy to accuse of being callous and insensitive – they even more regularly exist inside of a bubble – but promoters No Limit choosing against more widely publicising their fight in an occasion that could have proven vulgar was unquestionably the right call.
To follow the local and national news reports of what happened and to hear the city’s residents talking is to begin to understand that the Australian psyche has long believed that its remote location makes their country secure from the modern-day threats posed to the western world. The way that that belief has been shattered has left one of the world’s most celebrated cities in a state of shock. Its leading fighter may be fighting in the picturesque Darling Harbour on Wednesday evening, but while Tszyu – given his status as a popular pay-per-view fighter – perhaps has a responsibility to be a cause for positivity by winning, the reality remains that those involved on Wednesday would have had a reminder that boxing shouldn’t really matter at all.
The atmosphere on the streets of Sydney was, unquestionably, sombre. Many of its residents could visibly be seen operating in a fog not unlike that sometimes seen during the worst points of the Covid pandemic – they existed almost in their own worlds and yet if conversations were taking place they surrounded only one thing.
There also could be found a noticeably increased police presence without attempting to look for it, and in the evening, the Sydney Opera House was lit up with a menorah to mark the second day of Hanukkah – the Jewish celebration that contributed to those in their community being targeted and attacked at Bondi Beach.
Inside the TikTok Entertainment Centre where Tszyu-Velazquez will take place, at a time when there remained uncertainty over its status, No Limit and broadcasters Main Event were overseeing some of the last of the pre-fight build-up aware that they were potentially wasting their time.
Tszyu, Velazquez, and the undercard fighters present were available for interview. Main Event – who even after permission was received from the relevant authorities to proceed with Wednesday’s promotion had to consider whether they truly saw the value in it taking place when planned – also filmed head-to-heads for those involved in its most appealing fights.
Tszyu and Velazquez cut calmer figures than they had when they first came face to face on Friday. There regardless was noticeable spite in the words of Sam Goodman and Tyler Blizzard when they sat opposite each other; BoxingScene has interviewed both, and perceived Goodman – who lost to Blizzard while they were amateurs – to dislike Blizzard in a way that Blizzard doesn’t dislike him.
If it briefly became tempting to conclude that the boxing bubble was protecting those inside it from the sadness being endured by those so nearby, when the subject of Sunday’s shootings came up it was noticeable how much more attention was being paid by others close enough to listen. It was also noticeable that greater thought was being given to words spoken, which starkly contrasted the countless pre-fight occasions when empty words have been used and almost immediately forgotten – often again and again.
“For any fighter – for everybody in the country – it’s a big shock,” No Limit’s George Rose told BoxingScene when asked if he was concerned about his leading fighter’s psyche. “Forty-eight hours from the fight you want to be absolutely locked in and zoned in, and for most of the fighters they’ll be that hungry at the moment that they’ll be focused on their own things they’re doing and what they’ve got to do to prepare for the fight.
“Tim, in particular, still seems very locked in, and his demeanour today is all about what he’s got to do for this fight. Velazquez is a real, live challenge in this fight, and he knows that he’s gotta be on.”
