Tszyu\u2019s shock new corner reveal… as Nikita, Fenech left out of bold plans<\/a><\/p>\nAussie star delivers BRUTAL 40-second KO | 00:40<\/p>\n
Aged 29, and with four wins already in 2025 alone, this softly-spoken world title hopeful has lived and trained his entire life out of Springfield, Massachusetts.<\/p>\n
But make no mistake, this is a Puerto Rican story.<\/p>\n
With Velazquez telling you how the old man, one of 25 children, would compile his own successful amateur career right there in the gym alongside Cotto before, well, life got in the way of him going pro.<\/p>\n
So now, the son carries the torch for him.<\/p>\n
Although initially, Carlos wanted no such thing for his boys.<\/p>\n
Which is why, initially, young Anthony had to work out for himself that Springfield had only two possible boxing gyms for him to attend.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd one,\u201d he says, \u201cthat was owned by the parents of a kid at my school\u201d.<\/p>\n
Which is how in Year 6 he got the address.<\/p>\n
And even better, then got the old man to drive him there.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd that was it,\u201d he laughs. \u201cI was sparring by the end of that first week\u201d.<\/p>\n
Just as now within this next week, Velazquez will be arriving Down under with his father, younger brother Deriel and trainer Hector Bermudez.<\/p>\n
Together, four men looking to end the resurrection of a fighter now rebranded \u2018Phoenix\u2019.<\/p>\n
Asked what he knows about Australia, and Velazquez laughs: \u201cAh, I know Nemo got lost there\u201d.<\/p>\n
And as for the Tszyus?<\/p>\n
\u201cOh, everyone knows who Kostya is,\u201d the fighter continues. \u201cHe\u2019s been a great champion and really respected in the boxing game.<\/p>\n
\u201cSame as Tim, he was also a great champion. And I respect the work it took him to get there.\u201d<\/p>\n
Anything else?<\/p>\n
\u201cGreat name for my resume,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
Which as far as quotes go, is about as crazy as our 20-minute Zoom call gets.<\/p>\n
Pressure?<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s all on Tim.\u201d<\/p>\n
The underdog role?<\/p>\n
\u201cEveryone who fights me gets surprised.\u201d<\/p>\n
18-0 prospect out to end Tim’s comeback | 02:13<\/p>\n
And as for you maybe getting Tszyu at the right time? Especially with him having dropped three straight world title fights and, most recently, retiring on his stool against Sebastian Fundora, a man you\u2019ve already talked of challenging yourself.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ll be fighting the best Tim Tszyu possible,\u201d Velazquez says simply. \u201cThat\u2019s what I\u2019m expecting.\u201d<\/p>\n
Call it the humble approach of a kid who learned to fight in his garage.<\/p>\n
With dad holding the pads.<\/p>\n
Sure, Carlos Velazquez didn\u2019t want his boys to go pro.<\/p>\n
But teach \u2018em to throw hands?<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve been throwing punches ever since I was a little kid,\u201d the fighter continues. \u201cIt\u2019s always been in our family.<\/p>\n
\u201cGrowing up, everyone would come over to our house to watch fights.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd being Puerto Rican, we were always watching Cotto and Tito.<\/p>\n
\u201cThen it was my pops who started me training out of the garage when I was a little kid.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s been with me now [in the corner] for all my professional fights too, so there\u2019s a real chemistry there.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy dad not only supports everything I do, he is everything.<\/p>\n
\u201cWithout him, I\u2019m not boxing.\u201d<\/p>\n
So as for how many yarns you\u2019ve heard about training alongside Cotto?<\/p>\n
\u201cAh, the OG\u2019s are always going to be like that,\u201d he grins. \u201cAnd you can\u2019t take that away from them.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy pops is always telling me stories about famous people who were in the gym. And he has been around so many great fighters.<\/p>\n
\u201cPuerto Rico is only a small island, but it\u2019s produced a lot of world champions.\u201d<\/p>\n
Which Velazquez, of course, now seeks for himself.<\/p>\n
With the fighter admitting his decision to accept Tszyu, and immediately, is due to him seeing the popular Australian fighter as his own pathway to gold.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd us Puerto Rican fighters,\u201d he grins, \u201cwe got it all.<\/p>\n
\u201cTito and Cotto, they had the big left hook.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe million dollar left hook.<\/p>\n
\u201cSame as we bring a lot of pride, a lot of grit. We come to fight.\u201d<\/p>\n
A truth Velasquez plans to prove against Tszyu.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd I know for me personally, man, it\u2019s been a long journey,\u201d he says of the back road to this latest opportunity.<\/p>\n
\u201cAlready in my career, I\u2019ve been in and out of contracts. Endured a bumpy ride.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut that\u2019s boxing right? Nothing is ever perfect.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo for me, it\u2019s about staying consistent, keeping the vision in front of me.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou stay positive, stay in the gym.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou just keep persisting until that opportunity pops up to change your life.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Long before Tim Tszyu\u2019s name ever reached his ears, Anthony Velazquez was being raised on left hooks. Or…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":321388,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[571],"tags":[54820,2095,64,63,689,181019,2809,181017,802,181008,181007,181020,181023,181018,181012,25283,181015,181011,3716,395,486,181009,2782,2041,2067,677,181006,181013,181021,28365,41634,181010,181016,2784,85,29114,161901,5942,181014,181022,2614,181024,20591,61525],"class_list":["post-321387","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-boxing","tag-amateur-career","tag-america","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australia-and-new-zealand","tag-australian-brawling","tag-ben-damon","tag-bold-plans","tag-boxing","tag-boxing-game","tag-boxing-stars","tag-brutal-highlight-reel","tag-carlos-velazquez","tag-deriel","tag-dollar-lefts","tag-felix-trinidad","tag-hector-bermudez","tag-hyped-resurrection","tag-kostya","tag-maryland","tag-massachusetts","tag-michael-crain","tag-nick-walshaw","tag-north-america","tag-northern-america","tag-oceania","tag-oxon-hill","tag-popular-australian-fighter","tag-possible-boxing-gyms","tag-professional-fights","tag-puerto-rico","tag-real-chemistry","tag-resurrection-story","tag-sebastian-fundora","tag-sports","tag-springfield","tag-straight-world-title","tag-tim-tszyu","tag-undefeated-fighter-shrugs","tag-underdog-role","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-welterweight-fight","tag-world-champions","tag-world-title-fights"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/321387","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=321387"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/321387\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/321388"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=321387"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=321387"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=321387"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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