Tim Tszyu appears to have fully recovered from the cut he suffered on March 30th―which prevented him from facing Vergil Ortiz Jr. on August 3rd―and will now fight in a IBF final eliminator come September 22nd, as revealed in a media presser held earlier today and overseen by Tszyu’s promoter, No Limit Promotions. Though no opponent has yet been confirmed, Tszyu’s home country of Australia has been pinpointed as the likely destination where the fight could take place.
Though 29-year old Tim Tszyu (24-1, 17 KO’s) no longer holds the WBO super welterweight (154 lbs) title, the Australian fighter appears to be gearing up for a fight that will grant him the opportunity to vie for a world belt again. As revealed during the press conference, Tszyu’s next fight will purportedly be a IBF title eliminator1 against a yet-to-be-named opponent.
Since candidates for IBF eliminators would have the include the top 15 of 154 lbs IBF contenders, potential future opponents for Tszyu includes the #3-rated American contender Erickson Lubin (26-2, 18 KO’s), #6-rated Jesus Alejandro Ramos (21-1, 17 KO’s), #7-rated Xander Zayas (19-0, 12 KO’s) while at #8, #9 and #10, Callum Walsh (11-0, 9 KO’s), Slawa Spomer (19-0, 10 KO’s) and Jack Culcay (33-5, 14 KO’s) could respectively also qualify to compete in a title eliminator bout. Tszyu himself occupies the #4 spot, with the #1 and #2 positions left vacant.
Thus far, Lubin seems to be a prime option for Tszyu, based on his promoter George Rose’s interview statements made during the presser which indicated that they had reached a vital stage in contract talks with the American.
“There’s no hesitation from our side, we want the fight and Tim wants the fight, but it’s a scary fight for Lubin. You’re up against the uncrowned king of the 154-pound division. To be able to convince anybody to fight Tim, it costs a bit extra and he’s in that seven figure stratosphere. That’s where Tim is now.
“It’s a very costly process when you’re at this level and fighting the quality of opponents Tim is. The expense of it all is into the tens of millions.”
28-year old Erickson Lubin had been in talks with Tim Tszyu and his team earlier this year but a set of conflicting reports from both sides indicated that Lubin had either withdrawn from negotiations, or Tszyu’s team had chosen to look for another opponent.
While the details continue to remain fuzzy on this matter, the confirmation of a bout for Tim Tszyu on September 22nd also signifies that a rematch with American WBC and WBO 154 lbs champion Sebastian Fundora (21-1-1, 13 KO’s) is no longer on the cards.
Fundora’s manager had maintained earlier this year that Fundora sought to “honor” an oral agreement to face Tszyu in a rematch later this year―after Fundora won narrowly by a split-decision in a match where Tszyu notoriously suffered a cut that heavily impaired his vision, the latest rumors depicted Fundora drifting towards fighting former unified welterweight (147 lbs) champion Errol Spence Jr. (28-1, 22 KO’s) instead.
- A final or title eliminator is a bout that determines the mandatory challenger of a division, pertaining to a specific sanctioning body. ↩︎
