Tim Tszyu is reaping the rewards of fighting in the shadow of Manny Pacquiao after becoming “over-stimulated” while preparing for Bakhram Murtazaliev and Sebastian Fundora first time around.
The Australian represented not only the highest-profile figure involved in the promotion led by his contest with Fundora in March 2024, when he was the WBO champion – he was the biggest draw again when the challenger to the IBF champion Murtazaliev seven months later.
That on the latter occasion in Orlando, Florida he was accompanied by not only a significant media presence from his home country but his celebrated father Kostya meant that – regardless of Tszyu’s respect for him – Murtazaliev almost came to be treated as an afterthought.
Tszyu, regardless, that week epitomised a fighter high on the heady-and-machismo combination of testosterone, an emotional reunion with his father, and nearing a world-title fight after a first defeat he continues to believe he would not have suffered had he not been so severely cut. He appeared ready to fight Murtazaliev when they weighed in and, neglecting his experience, fought with a high-risk approach that so dangerously played into the Russian’s heavy hands.
That Pacquiao, at the age of 46, is fighting Mario Barrios in the main event on Saturday makes it inevitable that the appealing rematch between Tszyu and the 27-year-old Fundora, for the WBC title, has become lower key. The Filipino is rightly regarded as one of the finest of all fighters and earlier in 2025 was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame. If Barrios isn’t the profile of fighter to overshadow Tszyu then Pacquiao, and the narratives surrounding his return to the ring, is, and after thriving in a lower-profile victory over Joseph Spencer in Australia in April, a more mature and composed Tszyu is ready to thrive again.
“Oh, man, it’s been great, actually,” he told BoxingScene. “I’ve been enjoying [being on the undercard], actually. I don’t have to do a big part of what’s required, so it’s been refreshing in terms of that, in that sense.
“All of that’s cool – I understand [it] – but being a little bit under the radar, and being able to just focus on the performance, rather than thinking of the event…
“[It’s about] being in the zone as well, but also being able to spend some time away from the gym, and being able to switch off during that time. Just so that you’re not always over-stimulated. When I’m loose and relaxed, and when I’m feeling that way, it’s the best performances from me.
“[I was] over-stimulated, probably the Murtazaliev fight, and the Fundora fight. It was Tony Harrison, and the last one, Joey Spencer [when I was most relaxed].”
Pacquiao started making an impression at world level in the mid-noughties when Tim’s father Kostya was considered not only the world’s finest junior welterweight, but one of the finest active fighters of all. In the retired Ricky Hatton, Pacquiao and Kostya Tszyu even have a mutual opponent, and the 30-year-old Tszyu Jnr said: “I grew up watching Pacquiao; now I’m actually on an undercard. You’d never have thought so, because he retired, what, four years ago? Who would have thought? One hundred per cent [it’s exciting] – it sort of feels like a childhood dream. I went to watch him versus Miguel Cotto [in 2009].
“[His best era was] him versus [Ricky] Hatton; him versus [Oscar] De La Hoya. Even the Marquezs, the Barreras, the Morales [fights] – that was a good time as well.
“[I want to be retired] at 46. Cuban cigar and the beaches of Italy. It’s pretty crazy, man. I think it’s a ballsy act. It just shows the type of character that he is, and the belief he’s got in himself.”
It was in December, four months before fighting Spencer, that Tszyu married his long-time partner Alexandra Constantine. In the build-up to fighting Murtazaliev he had spoken of relocating to Las Vegas in pursuit of the training conditions and sparring available in what remains the world’s fight capital, but in the same way that he has learned the value of being composed, he has since decided to remain on the Australian east coast in Sydney.
“[Getting married is] probably the best thing that’s happened in my life, so I’m pretty proud of that,” he explained. “It’s slowed time down, put life into perspective and gave me another purpose to fight for.
“To a certain extent [getting married stopped me moving to Vegas]. The comfort of being at home, and all of that stuff, is pretty hard to beat; the Las Vegas heat and cold, to the Sydney weather – the beaches – it’s hard to beat that.
“I’m just a bit more comfortable at home. I feel happier; they say a happy fighter’s a dangerous fighter.”
