Australian star and former junior middleweight world champ Tim Tszyu will battle former unified world welterweight champion Errol Spence's return to ring after three years away on Sunday afternoon July 26th in Australia.
The long rumored Tim Tszyu-Errol Spence junior middleweight contender battle is now confirmed for Sunday July 26th in Australia.
That's according to boxing insider Dan Rafael, who wrote about the details on his Substack this weekend.
Rafael also was first to publicize the date on his social media here,
Tszyu 27-3, 18 KOs, is the former WBO junior middleweight titleholder. However, he's suffered three knockout losses in world title fights since 2024. Tszyu is on the comeback at 154 lb., as he won a pair of decisions against unbeaten Massachusetts club fight Anthony Velazquez back in December and most recently, defeated Albanian Denis Nurja on earlier this month.
As for Texan Spence, his last fight was in July 2023, when he met longtime rival Terence Crawford in a highly anticipated four belt, undisputed world welterweight ttile bout that had been years in the making.
But, for all the hype for the pay-per-view event in Las Vegas, Crawford easily wiped out Spence over the course of a ninth round TKO, including dropping Spence three times before the referee waved it off.
Spence, 28-1, 22 KOs, who defeated the likes of Mikey Garcia and Shawn Porter in significant 147 lb. title defenses has not been in the ring, since that Crawford beating. And, this makes going to fight Tszyu in Australia even more of an obstacle.
Meanwhile, it was also announced that Tszyu has split with trainer Pedro Diaz of Miami despite winning those last two two fights together. And, he will now be trained by Hall of Fame Australian fighter Jeff Fenech who was a three division champion.
“There was a lot happening in the last camp,” Tszyu told Fox Sports in Australia on Friday. “In all honesty, I wanted to spend a lot of time here in Australia (but) I spent a long time away from home, like two times two months away from home.
“Before I left, Jeff and I had a little chat and he said, ‘when you feel uncomfortable and in a position you don’t want to be in, just pack it up and go.’ And I sort of felt that a little bit, a little bit homesick. No one was doing anything bad. It was just me (missing) home. I thought I can’t do any more time away and I’m going to ask Jeff (to be my trainer). This was three or four weeks before the fight.
“It was hard. You don’t talk to your wife, the time difference is crazy. As soon as the fight finished, I knew I needed to stay home to be more present.”
Tsyzu, who is the son of hall of famer Kostya Tszyu, had been living and training in the USA prior to the last two bouts.
Besides being a hall of fame fighter, Fenech has been a prominent trainer before, having worked with Mike Tyson, Vic Darchinyan, Sakio Bika and Danny Green.
The Tsyzu-Spence fight will air on Saturday night July 25th on Prime Video in the USA, as have several of Tszyu's previous bouts "down under."