By: Sean Crose
He was widely considered one of the rising stars of the sport, a true talent who emerged from boxing royalty to leave his own mark on boxing. That was then. Now, after two defeats, Tim Tszyu is fighting for his career this weekend when he takes on Joey Spencer in his native Australia. “It’s sink or swim,” says Tszyu (courtesy of ESPN). “This is my redemption tour. I’m coming back stronger, hungrier, and ready to prove a point. I’m here to make a statement. If I have to walk through fire to get back on top, so be it. This is what I live for.”
Sure enough, Tszyu was on top of the figurative world in 2024 when he slipped in between the ropes to face towering challenger Sebastain Fundora for his WBO junior middleweight title. Tszyu performed brilliantly at first, but a gruesome cut led to Tszyu almost literally fighting blind. He fought bravely, but Tszyu ended up losing his titles to Fondura that evening. Things ended up going from bad to worse a short time later when Tszyu was dominated by IBF junior middleweight champion Bakhram Murtazaliev. Tszyu’s rising star was now certainly fizzling out.
Which is why the Spencer fight is so important this weekend. If Tszyu can win, and win while looking impressive, he will be close to getting back on track. Should he lose, however, the man will undoubtedly have a reputation for being damaged goods. Tszyu, the son of the highly regarded former titlist Kostya Tszyu, certainly wants to avoid that. He’s going to have his work cut out for him with Spencer, however, for the Michigan native is now in a position Tszyu knows well: that of rising star. Without doubt, Spencer is coming to make his mark on the fight world. And he certainly doesn’t want Tszyu to be a stumbling block on his path to wide recognition.
“For me, I want to go to the next level, so I have to get this win,” Spencer (courtesy of ESPN) says. “You only get so many opportunities in boxing, so when you’re in the position that Tim is in, you’ve got to make sure you get back in that winners’ track. It’s important for both of us and it’s going to bring the best out of both of us.” The Tszyu-Spencer fight will be broadcast live 9 PM eastern time Saturday on Amazon Prime.
