Tim Tszyu is looking to put himself back into the super-welterweight mix after suffering his first career defeat.
The 29-year-old lost to Sebastian Fundora last time out after suffering a horrific gash on his forehead in a bruising back and forth battle. With the defeat the Aussie also lost control of his WBO tile and now has to build himself back into contention.
With Fundora expected to face Errol Spence Jr next, Tszyu had been linked to a fight against Vergil Ortiz Jr, who himself only just came through a fight of the year contender against Serhii Bohachuk, taking the interim WBC title on a controversial split decision.
But Ortiz is now the frontrunner to face the biggest name in the division, Terence Crawford.
Crawford made his 154 debut earlier this month with a decision victory against WBA champion Israil Madrimov. Madrimov’s promoter Eddie Hearn described the scorecards- 16-112, 115-113 and 115-113 in Crawford’s favour – as ‘disrespectful’.
Speaking about the fight to Fight Hub TV, Tszyu scored it 8-4 to Crawford but warned the pound-for-pound star that ‘there are weight classes for a reason’.
“Yeah [I scored it 8-4 to Crawford]. I thought both boys were tentative. I think Crawford felt the difference between felt the difference between 154 and 147 so he wasn’t risking it as much, but it was a game of chess and I say it was quite entertaining from someone who knows boxing as it was a game fought over inches.
There are weight divisions for a reason, the more you go up the harder they hit and the stronger they are, there is a reason gloves go from 8 ounce to 8 10 ounce from 147 to 154 and then it goes onwards, all of that stuff plays a part of course, Terence is a very very skilful fighter but weight divisions matter.”
The points win marked the end of an impressive run of eleven stoppages for the man from Omaha.
