Tim Tszyu’s wife Alex has revealed the Australian boxing superstar nearly retired during his stint training in Miami.
The former world champion has undergone a myriad of changes over the past 12 months, cutting ties with his long-time team to originally link up with coach Pedro Diaz, before making another change and joining forces with Jeff Fenech.
Tim Tszyu poses with Jeff Fenech. Instagram/@timtszyu
Tszyu (27-3) has been searching for a way to get back to the top of the mountain, as he prepares to take on American rival Errol Spence Jr. on Sunday.
But it was during his stint with Diaz that the 31-year-old contemplated giving it all away, citing the ongoing toll associated with fighting at the highest level.
“Tim called me while he was in camp in Miami and said ‘that’s it, I’m retiring’ and I said retiring? Why are you retiring, are you crazy?” his wife said in a new behind-the-scenes video series on Tszyu’s YouTube channel.
“I said ‘I know things aren’t great at the moment, but we’ll get through it’ and he just said ‘I can’t deal with a problem every day’.”
Tszyu won his two fights with Diaz as his trainer, defeating Denis Nurja and Anthony Velazquez, but now has Aussie legend Fenech as his right-hand man.
He believes the change was necessary at this point in his career.
“Jeff is very outspoken, he says what’s on his mind,” Tszyu said.
“I felt like Jeff was the one I needed at this point of my career and my life and it’s been a positive outlook ever since.”
Fenech was rather outspoken about some of Tszyu’s former mentors, most notably for how they handled his bloody defeat to Sebastian Fundora in 2024.
“I said that the team that he had were clowns and he had a trainer that didn’t know anything about the rules and regulations of boxing in his first fight against Fundora … if they had brains, they would have stopped the fight and he would still be world champion,” Fenech said, reiterating some of his past comments.
Tszyu will take on Spence on Sunday (AEST) at Sydney’s Afterpay Arena.