Promoter Eddie Hearn says he is unsure if Tim Tszyu is “elite level” after seeing back-to-back defeats in 2024 to IBF junior middleweight champion Bakhram Murtazaliev and Sebastian Fundora.
Rebuilding Tszyu
Hearn feels that Tszyu’s promoters believed he was better than he actually was and put him in fights that were above his level. Now he has suffered back-to-back defeats, and his career is on the rocks. Eddie says that if he were Tszyu’s promoter, he would bring him back to Australia and give him a “confidence” type of fight. It needs to be rebuilt in terms of its confidence.
The way Tszyu (24-2, 19 KOs) was knocked out in three rounds by Murtazaliev on Oct. 19 was a red flag that he is not fighting at an elite level. There were no adjustments made by former WBO 154-lb champion Tszyu after the first knockdown, and he came into the fight with a bad game plan of brawling with one of the best punchers in the division.
“I’m a big fan of Tim Tszyu. 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,” said Eddie Hearn to Jai McAllister. YouTube channelSpeaking of managing former WBO junior middleweight champion Tim Tszyu he matched him a little too hard against Bakhram Murtazaliev.
“I really admire that they took that fight, and they should take that fight (Bakhram) because it’s for a world championship. But nobody really wants to fight that guy because he’s a seriously worthless guy. So if you beat him , you are a little like, but I like the fact that they did it, and I like the fact that he is a real 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,” Hearn said.
Tsyu will need to develop more as a boxer because there are fighters in the 154-lb division with better offensive ability than him. Some of them, like Murtazaliev, Serhii Bohachuk and Vergil Ortiz Jr, have power as good, if not better. It’s worrying that Tim didn’t make any adjustments in either of his last two battles against Bakhram and Fundora when things were going badly for him. He kept moving forward, walking into the blows and getting beaten.
“But you can’t just walk through people at that level,” Hearn said of Tszyu. “You have to be more expensive than that, and Tim was built out of that. I like to watch Tim Tszyu. It’s very, very exciting, but you don’t want too many fights like that. It really shortens your career, and it will be interesting to see what they do with him when he comes back.”
One could see before Tim’s fight with Murtazaliev that he would have problems with this guy if he doesn’t change his style and use a different approach. He thought he could knock him out like he did against lesser fighters like Carlos Ocampo, Tony Harrison and Steve Spark. He found out that they are much better than those flawed boys, and now his career is suffering for his mistake.
Elite level gap
“I think the unknown of Tim Tszyu is, he’s really elite level,” Hearn said. “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 get to that level, and you’re not good enough well”.
Obviously, Tszyu isn’t an elite fighter, but Hearn is being diplomatic about not saying it like he is. He’s a mid-level contender level fighter, but nowhere near the top. If you put Tszyu with former 154lb champions Serhii Bohachuk and Israil Madrimov, it would end badly for him.
“If I were his promoter, I’d probably fight here (Australia), and give him a confidence win against a top 15 guy, and then I’d go back to America. One thing you know. He’s got to watch TV, Tim Tszyu. He’s not going to struggle to get opportunities because people think he can beat him, and it’s great to watch,” Hearn said.
