{"id":579035,"date":"2026-04-01T18:06:26","date_gmt":"2026-04-01T18:06:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/579035\/"},"modified":"2026-04-01T18:06:26","modified_gmt":"2026-04-01T18:06:26","slug":"stop-the-fight-boxing-great-on-tszyu-career-changer-the-advocate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/579035\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Stop the fight’: boxing great on Tszyu career changer | The Advocate"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"TimTim Tszyu (right) has gained backing from an unlikely corner ahead of his next major fight. Photo: Dean Lewins\/AAP PHOTOS<\/p>\n

Pound-for-pound legend Terence Crawford has reopened old wounds, claiming Tim Tszyu’s former entourage “messed him up” and potentially changed the course of boxing history.<\/p>\n

After retiring last year with an impeccable 42-from-42 record, Crawford made a surprise visit to meet Tszyu in Sydney ahead of the Australian’s latest do-or-die fight on Sunday in Wollongong.<\/p>\n

Tszyu is taking on unbeaten Albanian Denis Nurja needing to win to confirm a multi-million-dollar mega bout with American superstar Errol Spence later this year.<\/p>\n

But Spence – who in 2017 became the first undisputed world lightweight champion since Tszyu’s Hall of Fame father Kostya 13 years earlier – believes the Sydney slayer would not be at such a precarious juncture had he been managed better.<\/p>\n

The fallen world champion famously lost his WBO super-welterweight belt to Sebastian Fundora in a Las Vegas bloodbath in March 2024 after walking into an accidental elbow from the American at the end of round two.<\/p>\n

Bleeding uncontrollably from a savage gash to his forehand, Tszyu had dominated the opening rounds and would have been afforded a mandatory rematch on medical grounds if the fight was stopped before round four.<\/p>\n

He bravely boxed on and lost a split decision but Crawford suggested that was the beginning of Tszyu’s career spiral.<\/p>\n

“On the first fight with Fundora, Tim had him. He had him,” Crawford said at Tszyu Boxing Academy on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

\"Albania'sAlbania’s Denis Nurja will take on Tszyu in Wollongong. (Dan Himbrechts\/AAP PHOTOS)<\/p>\n

“They should have stopped that fight. That was bad coaching.<\/p>\n

“He would have been better off if they’d stopped that fight and let him come back the second time, instead of letting him carry on and take that punishment.”<\/p>\n

Crawford, who hung up the gloves after winning 18 major world titles in five divisions from lightweight to super-middleweight, also questioned the old Team Tszyu’s decision to fight Bakhram Murtazaliev just six months after the Fundora battering.<\/p>\n

The Russian hitman floored Tszyu four times in the first three rounds before Tszyu’s brother Nikita threw in the towel.<\/p>\n

\"TerenceTerence Crawford after beating Errol Spence in 2023. (AP PHOTO)<\/p>\n

“They shouldn’t have sent him out there with Bakhram in the following fight,” Crawford said.<\/p>\n

“Bakhram was just the wrong style and the wrong game plan too.<\/p>\n

“They messed him up – and Tim was capable of doing the same thing. It was just the wrong game plan.”<\/p>\n

After going undefeated in his first 23 fights before falling first to Fundora, Tszyu subsequently lost a rematch with the so-called Towering Inferno in Vegas last July, leaving the 31-year-old at a career crossroads.<\/p>\n

Crawford is backing the home favourite to prevail over Nurja while predicting Spence to win any blockbuster later in 2026 against Tszyu.<\/p>\n

“I’ve got Errol,” Crawford said.<\/p>\n

“But I think it’d be a good fight for both of them at this stage of their career.<\/p>\n

“I’m not 100 per cent confident. I just know the calibre of fighter that Errol is, just like I know the calibre of fighter Tim is.<\/p>\n

“Both of them have taken a lot of damage in their career so far, but I just think Errol, skill-wise, just edges it.”<\/p>\n

Australian Associated Press<\/p>\n

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Loading…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Tim Tszyu (right) has gained backing from an unlikely corner ahead of his next major fight. Photo: Dean…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":579036,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[571],"tags":[64,63,802,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-579035","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-boxing","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-boxing","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/579035","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=579035"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/579035\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/579036"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=579035"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=579035"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=579035"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}