Tim Tszyu beats Spence Jr in epic 12-round slugfest
Darren Walton |
Tim Tszyu has restored his global reputation with a rousing victory over American great Errol Spence Jr in the pair’s much-anticipated middleweight blockbuster in Sydney.
Rebranded as “The Phoenix”, Australia’s former WBO world champion rose again in front of a raucous sellout crowd at Afterpay Arena on Sunday to rocket back to international prominence.
Boxing’s recently retired pound-for-pound king Terence Crawford was in the house as Tszyu set up another mega-money super fight in the US – and potentially another world-title crack.
Tszyu (28-3, 18KOs) had entered the boom-or-bust bout with Spence knowing his career was on the line following three crushing world-title losses in America to Sebastian Fundora and Bakhram Murtazaliev.
But the 31-year-old lived up to his pre-fight promise to take it to Spence, a generational talent and former unified welterweight champion of the world.
In a torrid 12-round battle, the relentless Spence threw more punches, but it was the hometown hero who landed the most telling blows to earn a unanimous points decision.
He earned the judges’ decisions 118-110, 117-111 and 117-111.
Tszyu’s triumph was also his first since appointing the legendary Jeff Fenech as trainer and preserved his family’s incredible 31-year unbeaten record in Australia.
The Sydney slayer has now won all 26 of his fights on home soil, with his Hall of Fame father Kostya (18-0) and younger brother Nikita (12-0) also unbeaten in Australia for a crazy 56-0 tally.
AAP