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Promoter Eddie Hearn says he’s undecided if Tim Tszyu is “elite-level” after watching his back-to-back defeats in 2024 to IBF junior middleweight champion Bakhram Murtazaliev and Sebastian Fundora.
Rebuild Tszyu
Hearn feels that Tszyu’s promoters believed he was higher than he really was and put him in fights that had been above his degree. He’s now suffered consecutive defeats, and his profession is on the rocks. Eddie says if he had been Tszyu’s promoter, he would convey him again to Australia and provides him a “confidence” booster sort of battle. He must be rebuilt by way of his confidence.
The way in which that Tszyu (24-2, 19 KOs) was obliterated in three rounds by Murtazaliev on October nineteenth was a pink flag that he’s not combating on the elite degree. There have been no changes made by the previous WBO 154-lb champion Tszyu after the primary knockdown, and he got here into the battle with a foul recreation plan of brawling with among the finest punchers within the division.
“I’m a big Tim Tszyu fan. I think he’s a great fighter. Sometimes, you can believe your own hype a little bit as a fighter, and I think they felt that Tim was unbeatable,” mentioned Eddie Hearn to Jai McAllister’s YouTube channel, speaking about former WBO junior middleweight champion Tim Tszyu’s administration matching him just a little too powerful towards Bakhram Murtazaliev.
“I actually admire that they took that battle, and they need to have taken that battle [Bakhram] as a result of it’s for a world championship. However nobody actually needs to battle that man as a result of he’s a severe dude with no worth. So, should you get beat by him, you’re sort of like, however I like the truth that they did it, and I like the truth that he’s an actual fighter.
“Sometimes, you can get carried away. There’s a massive difference between fighting in Australia and the Australian market and then going out on the world stage and taking on elite opposition. You saw that against [Sebastian] Fundora, and he [Tszyu] was very unlucky in that fight with the injury and everything,” mentioned Hearn.
Tsyu might want to develop extra as a boxer as a result of there are fighters within the 154-lb division with higher offensive capability than him. A few of them, like Murtazaliev, Serhii Bohachuk, and Vergil Ortiz Jr, have simply pretty much as good energy, if not higher. It’s troubling that Tim didn’t make any changes in both of his final two fights towards Bakhram and Fundora when issues had been going badly for him. He simply stored plowing forward, strolling into photographs, and getting overwhelmed up.
“But you can’t just walk through people at that level,” mentioned Hearn about Tszyu.”You’ve received to be cuter than that, and Tim has been constructed off that. I like watching Tim Tszyu. He’s very, very thrilling, however you don’t really need too many fights like that. It’s actually going to shorten your profession, and it’s going to be fascinating to see what they do with him when he comes again.”
One might see earlier than Tim’s battle with Murtazaliev that he was going to have issues with this man if he didn’t change his model and use a unique strategy. He thought he might knock him out like he’d carried out towards lesser fighters like Carlos Ocampo, Tony Harrison, and Steve Spark. He came upon that they’re so much higher than these flawed guys, and now his profession is struggling for his mistake.
Elite Stage Hole
“I think the unknown about Tim Tszyu is, is he really elite level,” mentioned Hearn. “He’s a world-class fighter; there’s no doubt about it. But is he really at that level? Maybe. I think the jury is out. There’s no shame in that. Sometimes, you step up to that level, and you’re not good enough.”
Clearly, Tszyu isn’t an elite-level fighter, however Hearn is being diplomatic by not telling it like it’s. He’s a contender-level fighter on the mid-range degree however nowhere close to the highest. Should you put Tszyu in with former 154-lb champions Serhii Bohachuk and Israil Madrimov, it will finish badly for him.
“If I was his promoter, I’d probably fight him over here [Australia], and get him a confidence win against a top 15 guy, and then I’d go back to America. One thing you know. He’s must-watch TV, Tim Tszyu. He’s not going to struggle to get opportunities because people think they can beat him, and he’s great to watch,” mentioned Hearn.
