Tim Tszyu picked up a win in Sydney today, beating Anthony Velazquez over 10 rounds to bounce back from his July loss to Sebastian Fundora.
The win improves the 31-year-old Tszyu’s record to 26-3 (18 KO), and keeps the former titleholder in the super welterweight mix, while Velazquez suffered his first loss, dropping to 18-1-1 (15 KO), as the American fought abroad for the first time.
Tszyu vs Velazquez scorecards
The fight was a shutout for Tszyu, with judges scoring it 100-91, 100-90, and 100-90. Judge Charlie Lucas gave Velazquez a share of one round.
Tszyu vs Velazquez highlights
What’s next for Tim Tszyu?
Fighting at a catchweight above the super welterweight division but south of middleweight, which is not unusual for non-title fights like this one, Tszyu (26-3, 18 KO) probably didn’t truly impress a lot of people with the win. Velazquez, 29, came in with the record of a club fighter, albeit undefeated in 19 pro fights prior to today; he’d never even so much as a fringe contender.
The start of Tszyu’s new partnership with trainer Pedro Diaz is still receiving a lot of scrutiny from those invested in the Aussie’s career, including Australian fans. Tszyu said after the fight that he wasn’t trying for a knockout, and sometimes veteran fighters really do like to get rounds in, particularly in a case like Tszyu’s, where a highly-regarded star had lost three of four fights. If Tszyu and Diaz are going to be truly successful together, more time will be required than a single, somewhat condensed camp. But anyone would be reasonable to question whether Tszyu truly has the mindset and skill set to be high-level successful boxing more and brawling less.
Velazquez was able to hang around, and while some of that may just be Tszyu’s change in approach and even just kind of working out some stuff in a pretty easily winnable matchup, there will remain questions about his immediate and long-term future.
Sam Goodman (21-1, 8 KO) also got back to winning ways, beating Tyler Blizzard (10-1, 4 KO) by unanimous decision in a 10-round featherweight fight. The bout was Goodman’s comeback after an August loss in Riyadh to WBA featherweight titleholder Nick Ball. Goodman won on scores of 99-91, 100-90, and 100-90.
