{"id":866430,"date":"2026-08-24T07:30:12","date_gmt":"2026-08-24T07:30:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/866430\/"},"modified":"2026-08-24T07:30:12","modified_gmt":"2026-08-24T07:30:12","slug":"boxing-news-2026-nikita-tszyu-vs-ben-mahoney-press-conference-world-title-eliminator-no-limit-george-rose","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/866430\/","title":{"rendered":"Boxing news 2026: Nikita Tszyu vs Ben Mahoney press conference, world title eliminator, No Limit, George Rose"},"content":{"rendered":"

Nikita Tszyu<\/a> isn\u2019t buying into the hometown advantage for Ben Mahoney, as the two Australian boxers prepare to throw down in a world title eliminator.<\/p>\n

The undefeated Tszyu cut a frustrated and sarcastic figure during the official pre-fight press conference on Monday, getting into an awkward back-and-forth with Main Event commentator Ben Damon on the Gold Coast.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Nikita Tszyu speaks at the press conference.\u00a0Facebook\/@NoLimitBoxingPromotions<\/p>\n

The 28-year-old will meet Mahoney in the main event of Wednesday night\u2019s pay-per-view card, with the winner in line for an IBF super welterweight tile shot. <\/p>\n

Mahoney will have the local support in the fight, having grown up on the Glitter Strip, but Tszyu isn\u2019t fazed and believes being on the road away from his family will hold him in good stead once the bell rings.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not my kind of weather … I can\u2019t stand this heat,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

\u201cI think being away from home is my advantage, I like to separate myself from my family. It\u2019s a ritual that strengthens me, that distance from the comfortable and the love, it fuels something inside of me and brings out a certain kind of energy that I can\u2019t have when there\u2019s a lot of love and femininity around me. <\/p>\n

\u201cThis last week, I\u2019ve been sitting in the hotel room in the silence \u2026 just mentally preparing myself. We\u2019re about to step into a ring and try to punch the living hell out of each other. There\u2019s no love in this sport, it\u2019s a crazy way to make a living.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tszyu (12-0, 1 no contest) was then asked how he plans to beat Mahoney, which was the moment things started to weirdly unravel at the presser.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith my hands, what else? I\u2019m not gonna headbutt him. I have to punch him, it\u2019s a very simple sport — hit and don\u2019t get hit,\u201d he responded.<\/p>\n

Damon then asked if Tszyu thought he did that better than Mahoney and whether he was confident taking on another unbeaten Aussie. <\/p>\n

\u201cNah I\u2019m not, that\u2019s why I\u2019m fighting him, because I\u2019m not better,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not confident. Come on. We\u2019re about to fight each other, we\u2019re not taking these fights because we think we\u2019re gonna lose.\u201d<\/p>\n

He was then asked about what fans will see on Wednesday night, signing off with one last sarcastic remark as he sat under the Gold Coast sun.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re gonna see some boxing, don\u2019t overthink it,\u201d Tszyu said.<\/p>\n

Earlier, his opponent Mahoney (17-0) was in a far more talkative mood.<\/p>\n

The 31-year-old said he was more than happy to risk the zero next to his record in order to secure a shot at world championship gold.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Ben Mahoney is the underdog in this week\u2019s fight.\u00a0Getty<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s amazing to fight here on the Gold Coast, this is where I was born and raised and to be able to sleep in my own bed the morning of the fight means the most and I know I\u2019m gonna have a massive rally here,\u201d Mahoney said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think for the mainstream media and people that watch boxing on Main Event and sit in front of their teles, Nikita is definitely the favourite. You look at the betting odds, it says it … but I think for the people who are in the industry and know who I am and have seen me come through — I\u2019m the people\u2019s favourite. <\/p>\n

\u201cThis is why we do this thing, we train from a young age and put our life on hold and we dedicate everything to this, so we can get opportunities like this. <\/p>\n

\u201cPeople talk about \u2018why are these boys risking it\u2019 but why wouldn\u2019t we? We\u2019ve got an eliminator and the chance to go on and fight for the ultimate gold. <\/p>\n

\u201cI live for this, it\u2019s nothing against Nikita and it\u2019s nothing personal, but this is my chance to go forward and complete my dream. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re in the wrong sport if you don\u2019t believe in yourself.\u201d<\/p>\n

No Limit CEO George Rose described it as \u201cone of the best domestic match-ups you\u2019re ever gonna see\u201d and believes Tszyu is on the verge of becoming a global star. <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Nikita Tszyu is undefeated through 13 fights.\u00a0Getty<\/p>\n

\u201cNikita Tszyu has been an absolute superstar ever since he came onto the scene and loves fighting an undefeated opponent,\u201d Rose said.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe seems to choose the hardest possible route that he can and that\u2019s what he\u2019s done so far in his professional career. He\u2019s the most entertaining guy that we\u2019ve got here and he\u2019s a scary fighter for myself because he puts it all on the line.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery time you watch \u201cThe Butcher\u201d you see something new from him and depending on who his opponent is, you never know what you\u2019re gonna get. <\/p>\n

\u201cNikita Tszyu is a guy who I believe is right on the brink of global stardom and he\u2019s a guy who has got more personality than we see in most people, you never know what you\u2019re gonna hear from him in a press conference. They have risked their careers by taking this fight. They\u2019re putting it all on the line to go on to become a world title challenger.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Nikita Tszyu isn\u2019t buying into the hometown advantage for Ben Mahoney, as the two Australian boxers prepare to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":866431,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[571],"tags":[64,63,802,85],"class_list":["post-866430","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-boxing","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-boxing","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/866430","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=866430"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/866430\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/866431"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=866430"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=866430"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=866430"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}