{"id":354584,"date":"2025-12-17T20:12:18","date_gmt":"2025-12-17T20:12:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/354584\/"},"modified":"2025-12-17T20:12:18","modified_gmt":"2025-12-17T20:12:18","slug":"tim-tszyu-resurrects-boxing-career-with-unanimous-points-victory-over-usas-anthony-velazquez","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/354584\/","title":{"rendered":"Tim Tszyu resurrects boxing career with unanimous points victory over USA\u2019s Anthony Velazquez"},"content":{"rendered":"

Living up to his new moniker, Tim Tszyu has resurrected his international boxing<\/a> career with a unanimous points victory over American Anthony Velazquez in Sydney.<\/p>\n

Fighting for the first time since finishing on his stool in a much-anticipated rematch with Sebastian Fundora in July, Tszyu\u2019s future in the ring was on the line on Wednesday night.<\/p>\n

While the one-time WBO super-welterweight champ had scoffed at any talk of retirement, Tszyu\u2019s global reputation would have been in tatters if he\u2019d suffered a fourth loss from five fights in 2024 and 2025<\/p>\n

Know the news with the 7NEWS app: Download today Arrow<\/a><\/p>\n

Three world-title batterings at the hands of Fundora and Russian hitman Bakhram Murtazaliev in 16 tumultuous months left the 31-year-old very much at a crossroad.<\/p>\n

But after ditching his \u201cSoul Taker\u201d nickname, the self-styled \u201cPhoenix\u201d, as he predicted, rose from the ashes to dominate Velazquez at TikTok Entertainment Centre, putting on, as described by Main Event commentator Ben Damon, a \u201cviolent clinic\u201d.<\/p>\n

\"AnthonyAnthony Velazquez takes evasive action against Tim Tszyu during their title fight at Sydney’s ICC. Credit: AAP<\/p>\n

The proud Puerto Rican-American had been undefeated in his previous 18 professional bouts, winning 15 of them by knockout.<\/p>\n

But while he was unable to land a 19th KO of his career, Tszyu proved in another league fighting at catchweight and at a more comfortable 70-plus kilograms for the first time.<\/p>\n

The three judges awarded the home favourite 100-90, 100-90, 100-91 allowing Tszyu to declare: \u201cI\u2019m back. I\u2019m f****** back.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said boxing was a \u201crollercoaster\u201d and a long emotional journey.<\/p>\n

\u201cEmotions up and down, but I\u2019m very, very blessed to be in this position right now and I just thank everyone from the bottom of my heart, from my previous team, to my new team, to everyone that\u2019s stuck by me,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI appreciate all your love.\u201dTszyu was also in the hands of esteemed Cuban trainer Pedro Diaz for the first time after overhauling his entourage following his second loss to Fundora in Las Vegas five months ago.<\/p>\n

Australian boxing legend Jeff Fenech had questioned if Tszyu had even learnt anything from Diaz during his training camp in Miami.<\/p>\n

But Tszyu quietened some of the critics with a focused and measured performance, working Velazquez over with his left jab before hurting the US challenger with a huge overhand right in the sixth round.<\/p>\n

Velazquez\u2019s corner had to work feverishly to close a nasty cut under their charge\u2019s left eye, but the official doctor allowed Tszyu\u2019s dogged opponent to box on.<\/p>\n

\"AnthonyAnthony Velazquez suffered a nasty cut during the fight. Credit: Getty Images<\/p>\n

And the American gamely went the distance.<\/p>\n

\u201cI really just wanted to feel comfortable in there,\u201d Tszyu said of his new style and team.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wanted to get in the ring, not try to go for the KO and and get reckless. In the past (18 months), that\u2019s what actually came by me.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut I wanted to take my time, use the jab. I\u2019ve got all the skills in the world. I just need to apply them and know I\u2019ve got a game opponent today but the scorecard of 10 rounds, I\u2019m pretty happy with that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tszyu\u2019s latest conquest not only put the son of a gun back on the path to potentially another world-title shot, the statement win also preserved one of the greatest legacies in Australian sports history.<\/p>\n

Tszyu (24-0), his younger brother Nikita (11-0) and their Hall of Famer father Kostya (18-0) have never lost a professional fight in Australia.<\/p>\n

The trio\u2019s combined 53-0 ledger remains the stuff of legend.<\/p>\n

The onus will be on Nikita next to maintain the proud family record when he squares off with mouthy Melburnian Michael Zerafa in a domestic blockbuster in Brisbane on January 16.<\/p>\n

The pair engaged in a spicy face-off on Wednesday night, Zerafa letting Nikita know \u201che needs to be punished\u201d as he looks to settle a long-running score with the Tszyu clan.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Living up to his new moniker, Tim Tszyu has resurrected his international boxing career with a unanimous points…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":354585,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[571],"tags":[64,63,802,1625,3863,588,85],"class_list":["post-354584","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-boxing","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-boxing","tag-lifestyle","tag-sponsored-content","tag-sport","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/354584","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=354584"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/354584\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/354585"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=354584"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=354584"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=354584"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}