Inside Tszyu rival\u2019s plot to ruin mega-fight <\/a><\/p>\nWhile no date or venue has yet been set for the fight, early chatter suggests the bout will take place in either June or July, with both Las Vegas and Spence\u2019s hometown of Dallas, Texas the most likely US options.<\/p>\n
Early reports have also suggested Spence Jnr would be willing to travel Down Under for the fight.<\/p>\n
All of which continues an exciting few months for Australian boxing that also sees the impending return of Nikita Tszyu, who is expected to announce his next fight within weeks.<\/p>\n
Elsewhere, interest also surrounds what will be next for Australia\u2019s cruiserweight king Jai Opetaia \u2013 having been stripped of his IBF strap \u2013 while Liam Paro is also awaiting a date for his rescheduled title bout against IBF welterweight champ Lewis Crocker.<\/p>\n
BRISBANE, AUSTRALIA – JANUARY 16: Michael Zerafa reacts after a no contest against Nikita Tszy in January.Source: Getty Images<\/p>\n
There have also been plenty of headlines already this year for Nelson Asofa-Solomona, with the Australian crossover star also set to fight on the upcoming Easter Sunday card against Jarrod Wallace.<\/p>\n
After winning his No Limit debut in devastating fashion, the 130kg puncher has already revealed a 2026 hit list that goes George Burgess, Matthew Lodge and, finally, NSW Origin great Paul Gallen.<\/p>\n
For Tim Tszyu, Sunday week\u2019s fight is the perfect chance to showcase his continuing style overhaul under new Cuban coach Pedro Diaz.<\/p>\n
Quizzed on the improvements at an open workout this week, the Australian pay-per-view star said: \u201cLooking back on my old sparring sessions back in the day, bro, I used to be a sitting duck. A sitting duck.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo when you get a sniper like Murtazaliev, I was just there …\u201d<\/p>\n
And why?<\/p>\n
Wallace takes jab at NAS’ footy career | 00:53<\/p>\n
\u201cI got too comfortable,\u201d Tszyu continued. \u201cYou see me in my young days, I was a slick boxer. I was moving, had footwork, a nice one-two.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut then I got into a different mode. Against Dennis Hogan, against Jeff Horn I just thought \u2018ah, I\u2019ll start bullying everyone\u2019.<\/p>\n
\u201c[Laughs] I thought I was Artur Beterbiev.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn training, I\u2019d skip for 15 minutes, do some shadow boxing, hit pads, smash it out on the bag, gas myself, and then do heaps of sparring. But now I\u2019m doing footwork, doing head drills, doing bag, doing reactions, working on mental skills \u2026 it\u2019s a new perspective and I\u2019m embracing that.\u201d<\/p>\n
When it comes to Zerafa\u2019s fight claims meanwhile, the idea of Hearn promoting a Eubank Jnr fight is an intriguing one.<\/p>\n
While the UK promoter initially managed Eubank Jnr, the fighter then shifted camps and the pair have been frosty ever since \u2013 including, most recently, when Eubank twice fought Matchroom\u2019s Conor Benn in stadium blockbusters.<\/p>\n
Eubank Jnr won the pair\u2019s first fight by decision but lost the second, held last November, by a wide margin. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Australian boxing bad boy Michael Zerafa has declared himself in talks with UK superstar Chris Eubank Jnr, with…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":567265,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[571],"tags":[2095,279086,43757,64,63,689,2802,279088,279072,802,651,9124,279082,6167,9915,279078,279079,279074,653,219492,2105,26122,279075,122344,279087,11464,2623,30028,2504,11847,174548,4489,11850,2627,673,2782,11876,2041,2067,677,15773,279084,2821,140787,701,279081,219493,279085,2784,141689,279083,216003,85,279080,279077,670,3370,279076,279073,2614],"class_list":["post-567264","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-boxing","tag-america","tag-american-summer","tag-american-superstar","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australia-and-new-zealand","tag-australian-boxing","tag-australian-crossover","tag-australian-shows","tag-boxing","tag-brisbane","tag-chris-hyde","tag-cuban-coach","tag-dallas","tag-eddie-hearn","tag-fight-headliner","tag-fires-warning","tag-footy-careerboxing","tag-fox-sports-news","tag-george-burgess","tag-getty-images-inc","tag-head-clash","tag-head-drills","tag-hit-list","tag-jarrod-wallace","tag-keith-thurman","tag-las-vegas","tag-lewis-crocker","tag-lifts-lid","tag-longtime-rival","tag-luke-doherty","tag-matthew-lodge","tag-michael-zerafa","tag-nevada","tag-new-south-wales","tag-nick-walshaw","tag-nikita-tszyu","tag-north-america","tag-northern-america","tag-oceania","tag-olive-branch","tag-pair-sqaure","tag-paul-gallen","tag-pedro-diaz","tag-queensland","tag-rescheduled-title-bout","tag-ring-looking","tag-ring-resurrection","tag-sebastian-fundora","tag-shadow-boxing","tag-sitting-duck","tag-sparring-sessions","tag-sports","tag-stadium-blockbusters","tag-superstar-opponent","tag-sydney","tag-texas","tag-text-exchange","tag-tips-winner","tag-united-states-of-america"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/567264","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=567264"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/567264\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/567265"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=567264"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=567264"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=567264"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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