Order Now with Main Event on Kayo Sports.<\/a><\/p>\nTim Tszyu is fighting for his career against Anthony Velazquez. Picture: No Limit BoxingSource: Supplied<\/p>\n
Now, almost a quarter of a century after he helped Tszyu conquer the world, Lewis fears the son of Kostya is facing retirement if he can\u2019t bludgeon Velazquez to reignite his flagging career.<\/p>\n
The \u2018Soul Taker\u2019 \u2013 renamed \u2018The Phoenix\u2019 \u2013 has endured a horror past 18 months. He suffered his first career loss in a bloody world-title war against Sebastian Fundora in March 2024, was knocked out in three rounds by Bakhram Murtazaliev seven months later and mauled by Fundora in their rematch in Las Vegas in July.<\/p>\n
A fourth-round stoppage of Joey Spencer in April is Tszyu\u2019s only highlight-reel moment in nearly two years and Lewis says there would be no coming back from a fourth defeat if Velazquez pulls off an Aussie ambush.<\/p>\n
\u201cA loss of any description would be disastrous for Tim,\u201d Lewis said. <\/p>\n
\u201cIf he doesn\u2019t win, he will have to find something to do in life.<\/p>\n
Legendary boxing trainer Johnny Lewis (centre) helped Tim Tszyu\u2019s father Kostya (right) become a world champion.Source: News Corp Australia<\/p>\n
\u201cI never thought Tim would be in this position, I thought he would still be unbeaten and be up there with Jai Opetaia as our best pound-for-pound fighters. <\/p>\n
\u201cBut this is now the most important fight he has ever had. He is not fighting for a world title \u2013 he is fighting for his career.<\/p>\n
\u201cTim just needs a win, but it has to be a dominant win. <\/p>\n
\u201cIf he doesn\u2019t put on a really good performance, he will have to consider retiring.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lewis helped Kostya recover from his shock loss to Vince Phillips in 1997 and he hopes Tszyu\u2019s decision to sack his entire team and link with Pedro Diaz, who has trained 21 world champions, can take the 31-year-old Sydneysider to another level.<\/p>\n
But Lewis, who trained six world champions, has detected worrying signs in Tszyu. It\u2019s not just his beatings in the ring. It\u2019s his cocky comments in the lead up to the Velazquez fight, including Tszyu declaring: \u201cI\u2019m not good, I\u2019m great.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lewis believes it\u2019s false bravado masking searing self-doubts.<\/p>\n
\u201cTim needs to pull his head in with a few of his comments,\u201d said the boxing Hall of Fame icon. <\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t like some of the things he is saying. He doesn\u2019t need to talk himself up or put his opponent down, he just needs to get in the ring and let his fists do the talking.<\/p>\n
\u201cLook, there\u2019s mental issues there with his confidence. <\/p>\n
\u201cI think Tim is talking the way he is because he has some question marks and doubts. <\/p>\n
\u201cHe thinks going overseas to Pedro Diaz is the right move and it most probably is. There\u2019s a lot riding on this fight. If he struggles to win in a drab 10 rounder, they will be saying Tim is finished.<\/p>\n
\u201cAustralian boxing needs Tim Tszyu winning. Our sport needs him to be a world champion again.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut I didn\u2019t like the things Tim said (about being great and trash-talking Velazquez) and no-one called him out on it. The backlash on all that is when you lose and you\u2019re sitting on your backside, it can torment him.<\/p>\n
Tim Tszyu suffered a savage loss in his rematch against Sebastian Fundora in July.Source: AFP<\/p>\n
\u201cAll he has to do is become a top 10 performer and get into the ratings again and strut his stuff. <\/p>\n
\u201cHe doesn\u2019t need to beat his chest in the media, boxers do that when they can\u2019t fight or you are down on confidence.<\/p>\n
\u201cI really hope Tim goes well and puts in a 10 out of 10 performance and shows he can fight back.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tszyu insists he doesn\u2019t need a major overhaul under Diaz.<\/p>\n
\u201cEveryone thinks I will change, but I won\u2019t change my style,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo change your style, takes years and years of instinct in your head. <\/p>\n
\u201cI will be more refined.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve got all the tools but sometimes I have stopped using the tools. <\/p>\n
\u201cI was winning on intelligence, not being a brawler. I was breaking guys down. That\u2019s what I want to do again.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Win … or retire. That\u2019s the ominous message from Australia\u2019s legendary boxing trainer Johnny Lewis to Tim Tszyu…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":348378,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[571],"tags":[2095,169017,187511,64,63,689,192207,192204,802,192214,192217,192209,60064,192213,192216,174556,192208,181015,2781,3716,2623,192220,56535,2627,673,2041,2067,677,192221,140787,192212,43756,192218,192202,192203,85,192219,670,67671,192210,91250,2614,192206,1651,192205,20591,2836,192211,192215],"class_list":["post-348377","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-boxing","tag-america","tag-anthony-velasquez","tag-anthony-velazquez","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australia-and-new-zealand","tag-australian-boxing-needs","tag-bloody-world-title-war","tag-boxing","tag-career-loss","tag-cocky-comments","tag-codey-walker","tag-dominant-win","tag-famous-father","tag-flagging-career","tag-geoff-smith","tag-heavy-losses","tag-hector-bermudez","tag-johnny-lewis","tag-kostya","tag-las-vegas","tag-legendary-boxing-trainer","tag-mark-kolbe","tag-nevada","tag-new-south-wales","tag-north-america","tag-northern-america","tag-oceania","tag-ominous-message","tag-pedro-diaz","tag-pound-for-pound-fighters","tag-rockdale","tag-savage-clobbering","tag-searing-self-doubts","tag-sport-needs","tag-sports","tag-super-lightweight-king","tag-sydney","tag-tom-parrish","tag-unbeaten-american","tag-undisputed-super","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-vince-phillips","tag-wayne-bennett","tag-wayne-bennetttim-tszyu","tag-world-champions","tag-world-title","tag-world-title-dominance","tag-worrying-signs"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/348377","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=348377"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/348377\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/348378"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=348377"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=348377"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=348377"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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