Former WBO Junior middleweight champion Tim Tszyu could face Joey Spencer in April in Australia. This would be a confidence booster for the 29-year-old Tszyu (24-2, 17 KOs), who has lost his last two fights, going 0-2 in 2024.
Spencer would be a comeback fight for Tszyu to get him ready for a possible clash against Keith Thurman. That’s if Thurman is victorious in his March 12th bout against Brock Jarvis in Sydney. Tszyu was supposed to fight the former WBC and WBA welterweight champion Thurman last year on March 30th, but he pulled out of the bout with a biceps injury.
A Must-Win Fight
Before last year’s disasters, Tszyu would be seen as an overwhelming favorite going up against Spencer (19-1, 11 KOs), but not anymore. That has to be seen as a 50-50 fight because Tszyu has shown that he’s incapable of making simple adjustments during combat.
Dan Rafael reports that Tszyu vs. Spencer is possible in the first quarter of 2025.
This is a must-win for Tszyu because if he can’t beat Joey Spencer, 24, he needs to think seriously about retirement because this isn’t a top-tier 154-pounder. He was destroyed in seven rounds by Jesus Ramos on March 25, 2023.
Since then, Spencer has beaten three unranked no-name fighters to build himself up somewhat. He still hasn’t proven that he’s operating at world-level ability, but it appears he’s good enough to be selected as Tszyu’s come-back fight in April.
The Murtazaliev Disaster
Tszyu was obliterated in three rounds by IBF junior middleweight champion Bakhram Murtazaliev on October 19th last year in an embarrassing four-knockdown loss at the Caribe Royale in Orlando, Florida.
Murtazaliev revealed after the fight that he was fighting with an injured right arm and was forced to use his left. That proved to be more than enough, as he repeatedly dropped Tszyu with that punch until the referee finally waved it off in the third round.
Bakhram’s primary weapon is his powerful right hand. You can only imagine what the fight would have been like if he had that working for him. Tszyu might not have made it out of the first round.
Tszyu lost to the 6’5″ Sebastian Fundora by a 12-round split decision on March 30th last year. Going into that fight, there was talk of Tszyu potentially fighting Terence Crawford in what would have been a big-money bout, but Fundora ruined everything.
