Former junior middleweight titleholder Tim Tszyu finally stood toe-to-toe with Denis Nurja at Tuesday’s media workout, ahead of their upcoming middleweight clash – and what seemed to stand out to him most was that, for once, his opponent didn’t stand out.

At 5ft 8½ins, Tszyu has fought 6ft 6ins “Towering Inferno” Sebastian Fundora twice in the past two years and hasn’t so much as matched the height of an opponent in nine fights since winning a unanimous decision over Takeshi Inoue (5ft 8ins) in 2021. But on Tuesday, Tszyu faced off with Nurja at Bondi Boxing gym in Sydney and, this time around, stood eye-to-eye with his foe.

“Finally, someone my height,” said Tszyu, 26-3 (18 KOs). “Usually I’m looking up, so it’s nice to have someone your own height. Nurja seems ready, which is good. At least he’s here nice and early.”

It’s anyone’s guess whether pre-fight measurements or arrival times will have any effect whatsoever on the outcome of Saturday’s main event at WIN Entertainment Centre in Wollongong, Australia. More likely, it will be Tszyu’s first full training camp with trainer Joel Diaz and Nurja’s inexperience at the world level that dictate terms.

Sydney’s Tszyu, who for weeks had been putting in work at Diaz’s gym halfway across the world in Miami, is just glad to be standing on his native soil again.

“It’s unbelievable to be back home in Australia,” he said. “I’m loving being back home. Australia is always going to be home for me. Even though I’m traveling nonstop and putting myself in uncomfortable positions at times, being back home is comforting.”

Tszyu, with Diaz’s influence, is still in the process of building himself back – and, he hopes, beyond – the fighter he was before literally running into Fundora for the first time in March 2024, when an errant elbow sliced open Tszyu and led to a bloody, half-blind points loss that few saw coming.

He is just 2-3 in his past five fights, including a stoppage loss to Bakhram Murtazaliev in October 2024 and another defeat – this time a knockout – against Fundora in their rematch last July. Tszyu has since taken apart Anthony Velasquez in a 10-round whitewashing, and Nurja, 20-0 (9 KOs), is essentially the next stop on his comeback tour. In fact, there has already been open dialogue about Tszyu next facing Errol Spence Jnr in an interesting crossroads showdown of pound-for-pound fighters who have fallen on somewhat hard times.

Nurja isn’t interested in hearing about Tszyu’s potential future dates.

“I understand these thoughts,” Nurja said Tuesday, “but he still has to pass through me before thinking about Errol Spence Jnr, which is no easy task.

“It’s better not to talk about what’s next or the plans before a fight. We have a lot of plans we want to carry out and don’t want to give away anything.”

To be fair, Tszyu’s attention seems fully trained on the task at hand.

“The word annihilation has been in my head and repeated in my head for the last seven weeks,” he said. “That’s all I want to do. My whole purpose right now is just to annihilate.”

After starting his career 24-0, with quality wins over Terrell Gausha, Tony Harrison, Carlos Ocampo and Brian Mendoza – against whom he defended a 154lbs title – Tszyu’s recent stumbles seem to have focused his thoughts, or at least given him, at age 31, a far greater appreciation of the fragility of a livelihood in boxing.

“Everything is at risk – your whole career,” Tszyu said. “That’s what you do in this sport. You put everything on the line every time. The biggest risk is not just losing, but your health. You’re always one punch away, so I prepare strong every time because I know what’s ahead.

“I wouldn’t say I fear losing, but it’s not a good feeling and it’s not something I want to experience again. My motivation throughout this training camp, and in life right now, is victory by any means necessary.

“I need to win. And the win comes from the way I want to do it.”

Jason Langendorf is the former Boxing Editor of ESPN.com, was a contributor to Ringside Seat and the Queensberry Rules, and has written about boxing for Vice, The Guardian, Sun-Times and other publications. A member of the Boxing Writers Association of America, he can be found at LinkedIn and followed on X and Bluesky.