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Tim Tszyu has the chance to emulate his legendary father as a unified world boxing champion after the stakes were dramatically raised for his long-awaited Las Vegas debut.
Hours after Tszyu’s scheduled opponent Keith Thurman was forced out of the March 30 pay-per-view blockbuster, officials promoted fellow American Sebastian Fundora as a replacement.
The Tszyu-Thurman bout was to have been a non-title fight, but now the undefeated Australian can add the WBC super-welterweight belt to the WBO strap he already possesses.
After a frantic night of negotiations, it is understood Tszyu won’t place his WBO title on the line because he will square off with Fundora at 155 pounds – a pound above the traditional super-welterweight limit.
The dream opportunity comes 25 years after Kostya Tszyu scored a technical knockout victory over Mexican Miguel Angel Gonzalez in Miami to snare the vacant WBC super-lightweight title, having captured the IBF version in 1997.
Tim Tszyu knocks out Stevie Spark (Evans/Getty Images)
Team Tszyu had been left scrambling earlier on Tuesday when Thurman pulled out of the headline act after suffering a biceps injury in training.
A former unified welterweight champion, Thurman has fought just once since losing to the great Manny Pacquiao in July 2019.
He scored a unanimous points victory over Mario Barrios in February 2022.
But the 35-year-old’s future in the sport now looks increasingly uncertain.
Not so Tszyu’s after No Limit Boxing boss George Ross secured the Fundora fight in a huge twist for the 29-year-old.
Nicknamed the ‘Towering Inferno’, the 197cm Fundora (20-1-1, 13 KOs) is the tallest boxer in the division.
The southpaw is some 26cm taller than Thurman.
Fundora was originally slated to fight Ukraine’s Serhii Bohachuk for the vacant WBC super-middleweight belt on the same Vegas card.
The American claimed the interim WBC super-welterweight belt with a ninth-round stoppage of countryman Erickson Lubin in Sin City in April 2022.
He defended the strap once against Mexican Carlos Ocampo – who Tszyu knocked out in the first round on the Gold Coast last year – before losing it to Brian Mendoza in Carson, Arizona, last April.
Tszyu (24-0, 17KOs) subsequently scored a unanimous points decision over Mendoza, also on the Gold Coast, last October in the most impressive performance of his professional career.
Tszyu’s coup comes after a series of setbacks for the Sydney slayer.
He had been scheduled to fight former divisional king Jermell Charlo in Vegas in January 2023 for undisputed honours.
But Charlo broke his left hand in training and postponed the super-fight until later in the year, before pulling out altogether to move up two weight divisions and take on pound-for-pound superstar Canelo Alvarez in a mega-money bout.
After repeatedly calling Charlo out for “holding up the division”, Tszyu derided the Texan as finished after he lost a unanimous decision to Alvarez at T-Mobile Arena last September.
“I’m used to the word ‘pull out’. Thurman, Charlo, Zerafa, Lubin,” Tszyu said on Tuesday of the latest scratching.
“And as always, the show goes on … See you all on March 30.”
© AAP
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