Tim Tszyu focusing on present ahead of redemption world title clash with Sebastian Fundora

Australia Broadcast Center

14 hours ago

Tim Tszyu is a man on a mission.
He's not unique in that aspect. Every boxer is the same.
Focus directed on the job at hand, honing everything in on that next fight.
The most important fight.
The redemption fight.
"The typical thing is that the next one is always the most important," Tszyu (25-2) tells ABC Sport before he left Australia for the USA earlier this month.
"But this one's got a little bit more meaning towards it.
"The fact that what's happened in the past, the history, and the newest chapter that's about to be written.
"It's a big part of my life."
Tszyu is, of course, talking about his upcoming trip to Las Vegas, when he will meet Sebastian Fundora (22-1-1) for the second time in his career, at the MGM Grand.
Tszyu's last trip to Vegas did not go to plan.
Now he needs to put it right.
The loss of his WBO super welterweight title, a defeat paid for in copious amounts of blood, is in the past.
"What could have been? Who knows. I don't look to it, I really just focus on the present," Tszyu says.
"The first one was one hell of a spectacle and a fight to be remembered for the ages.
"That's why we're gunna come back and re-live the memory."
The bloodbath of the T-Mobile Arena saw Fundora add Tszyu's WBO strap to his WBC crown.
For those that need reminding, the towering American — a late call up to fight Tszyu on just 11 days notice — opened a sickening gash in Tszyu's head in just the second round of what turned into a 12-round epic 16 months ago.
Fundora has, in recent weeks, argued that the cut had little impact on Tszyu and that the Australian could see him just fine for the rest of the contest that the American won by a desperately narrow, split decision.
The evidence of anyone who has seen the fight would suggest that Tszyu is correct in calling out that claim as "bulls***".
Nevertheless, Tszyu says that despite losing his world title to Fundora, he was still able to take plenty from the fight.
"The fact that I was able to show my true self, and who I am as a person, with my heart, my determination, the values that I've been bought up with, I got to show it on an audience for the whole world to see," Tszyu says.
"That's what I'm about.
"I think, in life, every lesson you learn is from hard failures, from hard situations that helps you grow as a person.
"That gash unfortunately made me lose, but it turned me into a different person."
There was far less to take from his next trip to America.
There's no way of softening what IBF champion Bakhram Murtazaliev inflicted on Tszyu in Florida last October last year.
It was a savage beat down, the Aussie being knocked down three times in the second round and once in round three before the towel was thrown in.
If the Fundora loss left physical scars, the monstering from Murtazaliev exposed some of the mental ones, as well as adding a few more for good measure.
It was a brutalisation that few, if any, saw coming.
But a confidence-boosting beating of Joey Spencer in Newcastle in April has put Tszyu back on the path towards righting those wrongs.
While Tszyu had 11 days to adjust to the challenge posed by 197cm-tall Fundora instead of the 171cm-tall Keith Thurman, this time he has directed all his sparring at tall, lanky left-handers.
If he was caught out last time, he won't be this time around.
"The height, that's all he's really got on me," Tszyu says.
"Never kick the small man down."
Fundora has only fought once since beating Tszyu and becoming unified champion at 153lb, beating Chordale Booker by TKO after a one-sided four rounds in Las Vegas in March.
Tszyu says he's not obsessed with beating Fundora, but accepts the challenge of facing him is what is driving him forward.
"I believe everyone in life needs a challenge, a goal to work towards," he says.
"I don't stay up at night or wake up in the morning and have Sebastian Fundora on my mind. It's not like that.
"I know what I'm capable of and I know what I can do in the ring, so I don't need to think about that. I just think of it week by week, day by day and just become the best version [of myself]."
Also fighting on the card will be boxing legend Manny Pacquiao, the 46-year-old eight-weight world champion making his return to the ring for the first time since 2021 to fight Mario Barrios for the WBC welterweight title.
The addition of Pacquiao to the card as headliner has made the ticket sales go "crazy", according to Tszyu.
But the added global interest is not daunting him.
"The platform that I'm in right now is crazy," Tszyu says.
"The audience is so big, so the fact is that I have to not just win, but win in dominant fashion and prove to everyone exactly who I really am."