Australian Junior Middleweight Tim Tszyu is looking to get back into championship contention and he won an easy 10 round decision Sunday afternoon in his home country.
Australian superstar and former WBO junior middleweight world champion Tim Tszyu earned a second consecutive dominant unanimous decision victory Sunday afternoon, as he overwhelmed the previously unbeaten Denis Nurja over 10 rounds. The fight was the main event of "PBC Championship Boxing on Prime Video" action airing on Saturday night (U.S. time) from the Wollongong Entertainment Centre in Australia.
The popular, hard hitting Tszyu, now 27-3, 18 KOs, was in control of his Albanian opponent the entire way, en route to a 100-88 win on all three scorecards.
Fighting for the second time with U.S. trainer Pedro Diaz, Tszyu looked strong from th beginning, scoring especially with right hands to control the early action. He faced some adversity early in round four when a headbutt caused a cut under Tszyu's left eye, but he quickly bounced back just a minute later when he caught Nurja with a solid left hook that put him on the canvas.
Nurja, now 20-1, 9 KOs, was able to rise to his feet, but continued to take punishment, including an overhand right in round six that wobbled him and brought the crowd to its feet. In round seven, a desperate Nurja was also deducted a point for excessive holding. And, Tszyu continued to pour the offense on across the last three rounds and also rocked Nurja in the final ten seconds of the bout.
Once the verdict was read, Tszyu was pleased with the work,
“He’s tough and I expected that, He came in with the perfect record, so I knew he was no joke. I had him a couple times but he didn’t drop. Those were some good rounds. I was trying to take him out, he’s just tough. Big respect."
Then, Tszyu's attention turned to former unified welterweight champ Errol Spence, who is rumored to be his next opponent in the Summer.
“I feel like I’m up for Errol Spence Jr,” said Tszyu. “I think that would be one hell of a fight. That’s a banger. I don’t take a backward step. If he’s ready to meet me there, bring it on. I’m coming to catch the big fish. Let’s go fishing.”
Spence, has not been in the ring in nearly three full years, after Terence Crawford destroyed him by TKO in their undisputed title fight in Las Vegas in July 2023.
However, the Texan is back training and is also, apparently willing to come to Australia if needed, to make the bout with Tszyu happen. Though, nothing is finalized at the moment.
Earlier in the afternoon on the No Limit Boxing promoted card, Top junior featherweight contenders went toe-to-toe, as Australia’s Sam Goodman improved to 22-1, 8 KOs with a unanimous decision victory over Argentina’s Rodrigo Ruiz, 23-2, 17 KOs. The fight was a 12-round IBF 122 lb. title eliminator.
A former world title challenger, the hometown favorite Goodman was buoyed on by the crowd as he showed off his versatile game against the rugged, come forward style of Ruiz. Goodman was especially effective landing power shots, connecting on over 51% while out landing Ruiz overall 225 to 157.
Japan's Naoya "The Monster" Inoue remains the undisputed champ at junior featherweight. He was to have fought Goodman in 2025, but the Australian suffered a nasty cut in training and Inoue moved on to other opponents on his schedule.
Goodman and No Limit would love to get the shot re-scheduled with Inoue down the road, where he would be a heavy underdog.