The next chapter of Tim Tszyu's rebuild will be written with Miami-based trainer Pedro Diaz in his corner.
The junior middleweight will be training at Mundo Boxing in Florida, having reassembled his backroom team.
Darcy Ellis, son of Aussie great Lester, is in the manager’s role, Mike Altamura is making the matches, and another Aussie great, Jeff Fenech, is on board as a mentor.
Tszyu in September revealed he would be traveling to the US to scope out coaches, and he has decided to work with the Cuban Diaz.
“He felt most at home and comfortable and training with Pedro,” Altamura told BoxingScene.
“He did a few days as a trial with Pedro, he felt like they clicked and connected and it was mutual and so he called Darcy and myself and said he feels at home and Pedro’s definitely the trainer he wants to be working with moving forward. He’s excited and really amped up to see what they can accomplish together.”
The team is in talks with Tszyu’s promoter, No Limit, to decide what his schedule will look like.
Tszyu raced to 25-0 (18 KOs) as a pro but has lost three of his past four fights, including twice against Sebastian Fundora and once to Bakhram Murtazaliev.
The 30-year-old, nicknamed "The Soul Taker", was born in Sydney, Australia, and is the son of International Boxing Hall of Famer Kostya Tszyu.
Diaz is arguably best-known for his work with the Puerto Rican great Miguel Cotto, as well as the Cuban national team. He worked one fight with Ireland's Michael Conlan, and, on Tszyu’s Instagram, the fighter announced: “Excited to welcome Pedro Diaz on board as my new head coach. I’ll be doing training camps out here in Miami, working every day to take things to a new level. Ready for this next chapter.”
