he will upset Errol Spence Jnr in a $15 million blockbuster<\/a>, stressing new Cuban coach Pedro Diaz has him far more prepared now than when the pair were first slated to throw down in 2024.<\/p>\nThe declaration comes as American boxing great Paulie Malignaggi has also suggested 2026 could prove a huge year for both Tszyu boys, declaring both Tim and Nikita capable of world title reigns.<\/p>\n
Almost two years to the day since Tszyu lost his first shot at Spence \u2013 dropping a bloody war with Sebastian Fundora \u2013 Australia\u2019s longtime pay-per-view king is suddenly within one win of the US superstar again.<\/p>\n
Should \u2018The Phoenix\u2019 win his Easter Sunday headliner against undefeated Albanian Denis Nurja, he then goes straight into a huge Spence showdown, with suggestions No Limit will look to bring the American Down Under in July or August.<\/p>\n
Should that happen, Sydney would be the most likely host, however there have also been suggestions Spence would prefer the bout in either Las Vegas or his own hometown of Dallas, Texas. <\/p>\n
All of which comes as Malignaggi has declared Tszyu capable of working his way back to a second title run, while also declaring younger brother Nikita\u2019s style capable of putting him up among the most exciting fighters in the sport.<\/p>\n
Currently in Australia to work the Easter Sunday card for Main Event, Malignaggi added \u2018The Butcher\u2019 is also built for a run at middleweight glory, branding the undefeated Sydneysider \u201clike a heavy piece of iron\u201d.<\/p>\n
Speaking about Tim Tszyu meanwhile, Malignaggi stressed the fighter was right to take a warm up before Spence, and suggested it could prove the difference when they eventually throw down.<\/p>\n
And as for the former WBO super welterweight champ winning gold again?<\/p>\n
\u201cTim is definitely world class,\u201d Malignaggi said, \u201cand can definitely become world champion again\u201d.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Tszyu has told Fox Sports Australia that he is far more ready for Spence now, thanks to his work with Diaz, who has trained over 20 world champions, and as many Olympic medallists, than he would\u2019ve been the first time around two years ago.<\/p>\n
\u201cOh definitely,\u201d Tszyu said when quizzed on his readiness for the man he was initially slated to fight had he beat Thurman.<\/p>\n
\u201cA lot has happened with me since we were first supposed to fight.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve learned a lot over that time. Changed a lot.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere has been a lot of growth and I\u2019m in a far more comfortable position now, both stylistically and mentally.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tszyu ready to combat his ‘kryptonite’ | 02:11<\/p>\n
Tszyu added the KO loss to Bakhram Murtazaliev had been a turning point.<\/p>\n
\u201cObviously the fight itself, I wasn\u2019t happy with it,\u201d he said. \u201cHad to adjust some things.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd there was a period of time after that fight where I enjoyed a lot of growth.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor me, the biggest change came after switching camps. Having always done things a certain way, and now changing it up … that\u2019s where the biggest change has come from.\u201d<\/p>\n
Certainly the next few months shape as a huge time for the Tszyu boys.<\/p>\n
As revealed by Fox Sports Australia on Wednesday, Nikita is also returning to the ring in early May against exciting, young Spaniard Oscar Diaz \u2013 which doubles as his first showdown against a top 15 international rival.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s a fight that excites Malignaggi.<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause from what I\u2019ve seen with Nikita, he has an Arturo Gatti-esque mindset,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s balls to the wall, get up off the canvas, you knock him down he\u2019s going to come back raging.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd, yeah, he\u2019s still a little lacklustre defensively, just like Gatti, but he also makes up for that with tenacity and power.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd when you\u2019ve got a guy like Arturo Gatti, you\u2019ve got to match him a little carefully. But Gatti also won world titles.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd if Nikita Tszyu is able to win a world championship I think he can be one of the more exciting fighters in the sport.\u201d<\/p>\n
Soon after, Malignaggi continued: \u201cWhen I worked Nikita\u2019s fight in January, I put my hands on him and went \u2018whoah, I don\u2019t wanna get hit by this kid\u2019.<\/p>\n
\u201cSometimes, you just put your hands on someone and can feel the strength.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s what I got from Nikita.<\/p>\n
\u201cAgain, it was \u2018whoah\u2019.<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause it feels like the kid is made or iron, but in an old school way.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe hasn\u2019t got that new body builder look where they\u2019re shredded.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo, he\u2019s just a piece of heavy iron.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd when he swings at you he hurts you.\u201d<\/p>\n
So can he reach greater heights than Tim?<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s hard to say,\u201d the Main Event analyst continued. \u201cAs far as who is better? I don\u2019t know.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019ve both got different styles, different mindsets in the ring.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s funny because while they\u2019re brothers, they both have a very different approach inside the ring.<\/p>\n
\u201cObviously Tim has already shown he\u2019s world class. And I do think Nikita can be world class, too.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think a lot of it will come down to what the (super welterweight) division looks like when Nikita reaches that world class level.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Australia\u2019s newest crossover king Nelson Asofa-Solomona has made an ominous statement in Wollongong before a punch has been…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":586180,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[571],"tags":[64,63,802,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-586179","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\/586179","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=586179"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/586179\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/586180"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=586179"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=586179"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=586179"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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