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<\/p>\nNikita Tszyu is renowned as one of boxing\u2019s most interesting characters.<\/p>\n
His pre-fight \u201critual\u201d certainly lives up to that billing, with the Aussie superstar revealing shaving his head is one of the final steps he takes before his fights.<\/p>\n
This bout in particular against Spain\u2019s Oscar Diaz has been long-awaited for Tszyu after his controversial no contest with Michael Zerafa in January.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Tszyu vs Diaz | Wednesday 6 May from 7pm AEST | Nikita Tszyu continues his rise in boxing as he takes on Spain\u2019s undefeated Oscar Diaz. | Order Now with Main Event on Kayo Sports.<\/a><\/p>\n Catch all the action below in our live blog, if you can\u2019t see it click here!<\/a><\/p>\n After Monday\u2019s final press conference. Tszyu took the clippers to his hair before the weigh-in, which symbolically marks a change in his \u201cstate of mind\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cI like the shaving \u2013 even just the ritual behind it. It feels like I\u2019m going into battle. That\u2019s my family-man hair; my daughter loves grabbing my hair, so it was hard to shave it off then, but Papa\u2019s gotta go to work. He needs it gone,\u201d he said to Boxing Scene.<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cThe shaving of the head is like a ritual for me. I do it myself, and it just puts me in the [right] state of mind.<\/p>\n \u201cPhysically, my body also changes in that last week, the weight cut brings out some aggression, brings out some energy inside of you, and it all culminates to the fight night.<\/p>\n \u201cI only started shaving my head a year-and-a-half ago. For two, three fights. I just shaved it with my brother [Tim] when we went to our camp in America.\u201d<\/p>\n READ MORE BOXING<\/p>\n NIKITA\u2019S REVEAL: Tszyu\u2019s remarkable pre-fight admission<\/a><\/p>\n ULTIMATE GUIDE: Everything you need to know<\/a><\/p>\n HIT LIST: The mega fights looming as world awaits for Aussie \u2018Prince of Darkness\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n \u2018IT WAS WEIRD\u2019: Mundine Jr on world title dream, surname \u2018blessing\u2019…. and sparring his old man<\/a><\/p>\n WEIGH-INS: Milk-drinking, a brawl… and a G-string? Ripped Nikita turns heads at wild weigh-ins<\/a><\/p>\n ‘F*ck it, i’ll just sweat it out’ | 02:18<\/p>\n DRYDEN\u2019S NASTY KO VICTORY<\/p>\n Kyron Dryden has delivered a nasty uppercut to left hook combination to secure a knockout victory over Hunter Ioane in their welterweight bout.<\/p>\n In the first round, Ioane came out swinging but found himself down on the canvas after the \u2018Hit Man\u2019 landed some solid blows.<\/p>\n From there, he finished off his opponent in the second \u2014 although Ioane wasn\u2019t happy with the decision.<\/p>\n After the fight, while Dryden was having his arm raised, Ioane stood shaking his head, questioning the referee\u2019s decision to call a stoppage.<\/p>\n \u201cNo, it was a clear stoppage,\u201d Sam Goodman said on the Main Event panel when asked if he had a leg to stand on.<\/p>\n ROSE\u2019S BIG FUNDORA CALL<\/p>\n George Rose has declared Nikita Tszyu capable of finishing every super welterweight champion \u2013 including the towering American who famously beat big brother twice.<\/p>\n On the eve of Tszyu\u2019s showdown with Oscar Diaz, Rose has ranked his charge among the division\u2019s most dangerous punchers, saying: \u201cI know for a fact Nikita can knock out every champion at super welterweight.<\/p>\n \u201cHe can absolutely knock out every one of them.<\/p>\n \u201cEven Fundora — he can knock that tall tree down.<\/p>\n \u201cNikita hits hard, he\u2019s got power and can stop anyone who stands in front of him. But you do have to put the whole package together. Because when you\u2019re fighting these guys at the top, you can\u2019t afford any mishaps.<\/p>\n Benavidez vs. Ramirez: Fight Highlights | 02:59<\/p>\n \u201cSo while he can knock out anyone, it\u2019s just a matter of ensuring he can handle every bit of the arsenal that comes at him as well.\u201d<\/p>\n Fundora, of course, has twice beaten Tim Tszyu in world title fights, but Rose has no doubt younger brother is also now on track to challenge for gold himself.<\/p>\n Quizzed on said KO power by this column, Nikita grinned: \u201cI\u2019m never focusing on the knockout.<\/p>\n \u201cEven in this camp, I\u2019ve been focusing more on timing, technique, speed, even being able to out-think my opponent.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve had some great sparring sessions this camp, real \u2018chess match\u2019 workouts. Because you don\u2019t have to hit so hard, you just have to find them at that right point and it\u2019ll do damage.\u201d<\/p>\n MAIN CARD (via Main Event \u2014 starts 7pm AEST)<\/p>\n Nikita Tszyu vs Oscar Diaz \u2013 super welterweight<\/p>\n Callum Peters vs Joeshon James \u2013 middleweight<\/p>\n Kirra Ruston vs Berkay Varol \u2013 light heavyweight<\/p>\n Jack Bowen vs Tonga Tongotongo \u2013 super middleweight<\/p>\n Rahim Mundine vs Lance McDonald \u2014 super welterweight<\/p>\n PRELIMS (via Fox Sports and Kayo Sports \u2014 starts 5pm AEST)<\/p>\n Brent Walton vs. Jayden Vasica — welterweight<\/p>\n Kyron Dryden vs. Hunter Ioane — welterweight<\/p>\n Brandon Grach vs. Caleb Tialu — heavyweight<\/p>\n Wayne Telepe vs. Benjamin Amos — lightweight<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Nikita Tszyu is renowned as one of boxing\u2019s most interesting characters. His pre-fight \u201critual\u201d certainly lives up to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":653043,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[43,44,85,41,39,42,40],"class_list":["post-653042","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-sports","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/653042","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=653042"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/653042\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/653043"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=653042"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=653042"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=653042"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}