‘Always an excuse’: Tszyu fears Russian could pull out of title fight
By Adrian Proszenko
Tim Tszyu has revealed famous father Kostya isn’t thrilled about him facing another Russian fighter, although the “Soul Taker” fears his next opponent could be the latest looking for excuses to avoid him.
The International Boxing Federation (IBF) have officially ordered Russian super-welterweight champion Bakhram Murtazaliev to defend his world title against Tszyu, although a date and venue are yet to be determined. Negotiations between Tszyu’s promoter, No Limit Boxing, and Murtazaliev’s team will now commence.
Tszyu is one of the world’s most avoided boxers: a mooted September 22 bout against Erickson Lubin has fallen through, the Australian’s loss to Sebastian Fundora only happened after Keith Thurman withdrew with injury and Jermell Charlo refused to get into the ring with him. And Saudi’s boxing powerbroker Turki Alalshikh intimated this week that negotiations with Team Tszyu were “unclear”.
A fight with Murtazaliev will provide Tszyu with a chance to fight for a world title immediately after losing one, although the 29-year-old fears another pullout.
“I don’t blame them actually,” Tszyu said. “I don’t know, man, like there’s [always] some sort of excuse. I hope Bakhram doesn’t start making stuff up as well. I’ve got some bad feeling that he’s gonna come in with an injury warning as well.
“It is what it is, I’m used to it now.”
Should the bout go ahead, it would be the first time that Tszyu, who has Russian heritage, will come up against another Russian.
“Well, I don’t think my dad’s too happy,” Tszyu said of hall-of-famer Kostya.
“I think it’s a great opportunity for myself, you know. I was brought up in a Russian household, as soon as we cross over the doors of my grandparents’ house, it goes from Australia to Russia, you know, the Soviet Union.
“The Russian boxing school is a big part of my upbringing, so I’m very keen to fight a fellow Russian. It’ll be an interesting fight … There’s a saying: you don’t wanna be fighting Soviet fighters because you don’t know what to expect, they come out with all these different, crazy last names and again you don’t know what to expect.
“They’re deadly and their mind is bulletproof.
Tim Tszyu is ready to face his first Russian opponent.Credit: Michael Ham, No Limit Boxing
“That’s the opponent that I’ve taken on and I’m willing to take it with both hands.”
Tszyu said a win against Bakhram – and the world title belt that comes with it – would allow him to become a “shot caller” that would allow him to target names like Charlo, Terence Crawford, Errol Spence, Vergil Ortiz and Fundora.
“When you get the belt you’re the shot caller,” he said.
“Instead of chasing, people come to you. That’s the position I want to be at.
“I want to dictate, roll the dice the way I want. I want to make the top fights.”
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