Tszyu critics slammed over quit claims as billionaire deletes tweet<\/a><\/b><\/p>\nTszyu sent to hospital after brutal loss | 05:26<\/p>\n
Zerafa also revealed he had messaged Tszyu\u2019s manager Glen Jennings directly before the Sunday\u2019s fight to wish them all luck, stressing that he wanted his longtime rival to become a two-time world champion.<\/p>\n
Elsewhere, Thurman spoke with The Punch Podcast while walking out of the MGM Grand Garden Arena, and was asked if he would still come to Australia to face Tszyu?<\/p>\n
\u201cHow bad do want Tim Tszyu to get beat up?\u201d he laughed.<\/p>\n
\u201cY\u2019all hate Tim Tszyu?<\/p>\n
\u201cY\u2019all want him to get murdered?\u201d<\/p>\n
Asked what the Australian had done wrong, Thurman continued: \u201cHe just thinks he\u2019s the s***.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe believed that boxing outside of Australia, the world of boxing, the plethora of talent and skills, opposition, it\u2019s something that he was just going to fly over here and handle.\u201d<\/p>\n
But as for now being done in the sport?<\/p>\n
\u201cNo, the kid\u2019s not done but they need to pick the right fights,\u201d Thurman said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey need to pick somebody who is better than (Joey) Spencer but who is not a world champion.<\/p>\n
\u201cOr a Hall of Famer like myself.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou take me over to the Gold Coast and I will end Tim Tszyu\u2019s career.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf that\u2019s what you all want to see, pay me and I\u2019ll do it.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ll get rid of Tszyu.\u201d<\/p>\n
“Was he ready?”: Tim forced to ‘rebuild’ | 13:20<\/p>\n
Zerafa, meanwhile, said he could go straight into a domestic showdown with Tszyu later this year.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur fight just got bigger,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cBefore tonight, everyone was thinking that if a fight was made between us, Tim just wins.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut after what happened today?<\/p>\n
\u201cNow people are saying \u2018s***, Zerafa could win this\u2019.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy phone hasn\u2019t stopped today.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve had so many people texting me saying \u2018it\u2019s going to be all you\u2019.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a fight that not only I want but everyone wants.\u201d<\/p>\n
Asked for his take on the Tszyu loss in Las Vegas, Zerafa said he hadn\u2019t watched.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut I\u2019ve heard what happened,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd honestly, I was backing him.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy heart goes out to him.<\/p>\n
\u201cBefore the fight I messaged Tim\u2019s manager Glen Jennings and said \u2018from the bottom of my heart I hope you guys win\u2019.<\/p>\n
\u201cI also sent a message to the guys from No Limit too.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve got no malice.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhenever people asked me about it on social media or whatever, I was supporting Tim Tszyu.<\/p>\n
‘IT’S OVER?!’ Tszyu corner stops fight | 02:12<\/p>\n
\u201cI honestly hoped he would win.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd I feel for him.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe should keep his head high, too.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe dared to be great and fell short.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt happens.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd while it\u2019s something of a reality check for him, it\u2019s still hard to hear.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut I do think I should get a little more respect now.\u201d<\/p>\n
So as for what the result means for his December bout with Nikita Tszyu?<\/p>\n
\u201cThis changes everything,\u201d Zerafa said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI go into a fight with Tim Tszyu now and I\u2019m the A-side.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou take away that last name and just look at the numbers, I\u2019m not only ranked No.8 in the world but ranked with all four sanctioning bodies.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo it makes sense.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd I\u2019m happy for No Limit to draw up new contracts.<\/p>\n
\u201cHappy for them to say forget fighting in August, let\u2019s keep you to the end of the year and this is the new plan.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m more than happy with that.\u201d<\/p>\n
TSZYU GOES DOWN IN THE FIRST | 00:29<\/p>\n
Speaking on Main Event immediately after the fight, American great Shawn Porter conceded Tszyu\u2019s career had taken a big hit in the Fundora loss.<\/p>\n
Fellow analyst Peter Badel suggested the Australian\u2019s build back to world title level could take two years<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s hard to not feel this train ride come to a halt,\u201d Porter said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s doesn\u2019t mean it\u2019s going to end, it\u2019s just slowed down.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t believe that Tim Tszyu has fought his way out of title contention.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt just doesn\u2019t go through Sebastian Fundora.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe can still get it done against elite guys, (but) it\u2019s going to happen back in Australia for a little while.\u201d<\/p>\n
Soon after, he continued: \u201cI don\u2019t believe Tim Tszyu is done on the world stage, primarily because he still fought very hard, very courageously.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have to assume that there are (some demons).<\/p>\n
\u201cI do believe he performed at a level that dictates he can come back at this level.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe just don\u2019t know what the timeline is.\u201d<\/p>\n
Thurman said Tszyu had not shown the tactical nous required to win at the elite level.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe landed a few shots, right on the chin and different things,\u201d the former champ said of the Fundora performance.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey just weren\u2019t hard enough, they just weren\u2019t flush enough.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe tried to poke at the body.<\/p>\n
Pacquiao vs Barrios: Fight Highlights | 15:02<\/p>\n
\u201cTim Tszyu isn\u2019t tactical enough.<\/p>\n
\u201cI said it, there is no evidence that Tim Tszyu can beat Fundora, period.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a tough fight.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s an awkward fight.<\/p>\n
\u201cStyles makes fights and we clearly see after the second run, he wasn\u2019t able to conquer that mountain top.\u201d<\/p>\n
Badel agreed Tszyu\u2019s road back to the top would take time.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s got to be delicate, it\u2019s got to be slow,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cPut Tim in cotton wool, give him some time out, bring him back against some lower-ranked international opponents.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think he\u2019s better than a domestic fighter, but maybe some international opponents, get his ranking up again, keep it up there in the world rankings and then slowly rebuild.\u201d<\/p>\n
Badel later added: \u201cIf Tim wants to rebuild his career — and it could be a one or two-year rebuild — he needs to fix his defence.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is the fourth time he\u2019s gone down in the first or second round.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s got to fix his defensive technicalities if he wants to survive in this sport.\u201d<\/p>\n
Porter agreed.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe has to have a tighter guard,\u201d the former world champion said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe don\u2019t see head movement back and forth, so he\u2019s a stationary target.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s the biggest problem.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Michael Zerafa says an all-Australian showdown between himself and Tim Tszyu has suddenly got much bigger after Sunday\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":278630,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4108],"tags":[1935,79,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-278629","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-boxing","8":"tag-boxing","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114888372659905641","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/278629","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=278629"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/278629\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/278630"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=278629"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=278629"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=278629"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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