Tszyu needles Spence after big win over Nurja
Adrian Warren |
Tim Tszyu declared potential opponent Errol Spence was nearing ‘grandpa time’ as the pair started a war of words after the Australian pounded out a convincing unanimous points win over Albania’s Denis Nurja on Sunday.
The 31-year-old Sydneysider dominated the 10 round bout at the WIN Entertainment Centre, scoring 100-88 on all three judges’ cards.
In an eventful fourth round, Tszyu (27-3, 18 KOs) was cut under his left eye, but he bounced back a minute later to drop Nurja with a left to the head.
Nurja (20-1, 9 KOs), withstood further heavy punishment for the rest of the fight, sustaining plenty of powerful blows to the head and body and was also deducted a point.
“The guy was tough, and I think after round four the momentum shifted and it (for Nurja) was like, ‘I’m not here to try and crack on, I’m here to survive’,” Tszyu said.
Completing successive victories for the first time since 2023, Tszyu described his performance in his second fight under Cuban trainer Pedro Diaz as “sound”.
Tszyu required six stitches in his facial wound, but dismissed it as “just a scratch.”
The win secured him the WBO International middleweight title and the WBO number 1 ranking, with the champion Xander Zayas booked for a title defence against Jaron Ennis in New York next month.
Spence (28-1, 22 KOs) appears the main priority for Tszyu and he is clearly keen to secure a high profile fight with the former IBF and WBC welterweight champion.
Asked in the ring after the fight about a match-up with 36-year-old Spence, who hasn’t fought in three years since his loss to Terence Crawford, Tszyu said, “I feel like I’m up for it”.
“You know what they say, ‘Catch the big fish’,” he said.
“Let’s go fishing.”
Spence responded on X by saying, “You think shit sweet I’m do you so bad.”
Tszyu chuckled at this and said: “At least I’m fighting and keeping myself active. The guy (Spence) has been on the couch for three or four years. He can’t talk.
“The last time he fought he got smashed, so I can’t wait to take on that challenge so it’s a very intriguing fight for myself and I hope he’s there to fight, not survive.
“There’s so many question marks. He hasn’t fought for three years.
“He’s 36, grandpa time is approaching. It’s a great time to take him.”
Local Wollongong hero Sam Goodman closed the show over the late rounds to win his IBF super bantamweight world title eliminator against Argentinian Rodrigo Ruiz.
The tenth ranked Ruiz (23-2,17 KOs) proved a rugged and willing foe, happy to engage in close range action with Goodman, ranked fifth by the IBF.
Roared on by the parochial crowd, Goodman (22-1,8, KOs) displayed his trademark ringcraft and varied punch selection and won the judges’ favour by margins of two, four and eight points.
Nelson Asofa-Solomona scored a third round TKO of former fellow NRL star Jarrod Wallace in a heavyweight bout, but wasn’t happy with his performance.
Light heavyweight Paulo Aokuso (10-0, 5 KOs) and rising middleweight and Australian 2024 Olympian Callum Peters (6-0, 6 KOs) each had a quick stoppage win over outclassed overseas opponents.
AAP