Tim Tszyu’s trainer, Glen Jennings, hinted that they’re leaning in the direction of taking the fight with Keith Thurman next after Tszyu’s fourth-round knockout win over American Joey Spencer last Saturday night at the Newcastle Entertainment Centre, in Newcastle, Australia.
Jennings says there’s “no one at 154 that “bothers us” after the way Tszyu blew out his second-tier opponent Sepncer, who was brought in for confidence-booster purposes.
Murtazaliev “Error”?
There was no mention by Jennings of Tszyu potentially taking a rematch with IBF 154-lb champion Bakhram Murtazaliev to try and avenge his third-round knockout loss on October 19th last year. The only thing Jennings had to say about Murtazaliev is that Tszyu had made an “error,” and that’s why he lost. Few fans would believe that it was an error.
The mistake was Tszyu choosing to face him in the first place because he was nowhere near good enough to be tangling with Murtazaliev.
Jennings says they would take the rematch with WBC and WBO junior middleweight champion Sebastian Fundora next if Tszyu only had “one year left” at 154 before moving up to 160. However, Jennings says Tim can still make weight for the 154-lb division, and it’s not a problem yet. Ultimately, the decision will be Tszyu’s about who he’ll face next.
The former unified welterweight champion Thurman (31-1, 23 KOs) recently launched a comeback last month after two years out of the ring, stopping Aussie Brock Jarvis in the third round on March 12th in Sydney, Australia.
Easy Money
Although the 36-year-old Thurman won, he looked old, slow, and nowhere near the level he’d been at during the prime of his career in 2017. Thurman would be an easy fight for Tszyu because he’s a shell of his former self. Tim and his team obviously will know that and likely choose him for the easy money payday.
The way Thurman is fighting now, he’d lost to most of the top 15 contenders at 154. He defeated Brock Jarvis because he’s an unranked, low-level fighter. In other words, Jarvis was a tomato can, selected by Thurman to ensure he won.
“That’s the Tim Tszyu we knew up to 24-0. The Fundora thing, you can’t really quantify because he was struck by a one-in-a-million injury,” said trainer Glen Jennings to Fighthype, talking about Tim Tszyu’s recent struggles with his loss to Sebastian Fundora. “Murtazaliev, he’s covered that. He [Tszyu] made an error, and he paid the price.”
Jennings is kidding himself if he attributes Tszyu’s loss to IBF junior middleweight champion Bakhram Murtazaliev to a simple “error” last October. That was a massacre from the get-go, with Bakhram dropping three times in the second round and a final time in the fourth. Tszyu fought the exact same way against Joey Spencer that he did against Murtazaliev.
The difference was that the power and talent of Murtazaliev were too much for Tszyu to withstand, and he was mowed down. Tszyu showed no signs of adapting his fighting style last Saturday night against Spencer. It was the same approach as before.
The 154 Question
“If that’s Tim Tszyu going forward [his performance against Joey Spencer], I’m not sure there’s anyone at 154 that bothers us. Thurman has been discussed previously, and so had Fundora. I think those are the two names that are resonating at the moment,” said Jennings about the two options for Tszyu’s next fight. I think the decision will come down to Tim.
“Will look at the best outcome and the best way to do it and how much time he’s got left at 154. If you were to say to me that he’s got one year left, then we might take Fundora next, but I don’t know if that’s the case. He still made the weight. It was hard, but he still got it done. So, we’ll see,” said Jennings.
