Friday, December 12
SYDNEY, Australia – Anthony Velazquez had been in Australia for in the region of an hour when he arrived at Rockdale’s Tszyu Fight Club and came face to face for the first time with his opponent on Wednesday, Tim Tszyu.
The great Kostya Tszyu, perhaps Australia’s finest ever fighter and Tim’s father, trained out of the Tszyu Fight Club when he was in his destructive prime. Before Velazquez arrived Tim’s younger brother Nikita – who fights Michael Zerafa on January 16 – could also be seen hitting the heavy bag.
Velazquez and Tszyu were committed to media workouts ahead of their 157lbs catchweight fight at Sydney’s TikTok Entertainment Centre, but Velazquez had arrived in Sydney 48 hours later than scheduled as a consequence of two delays. The first owed to a ticketing issue at LAX; the second to the cancellation of his flight. There is little question that, at the very least in the context of his body clock, if not also the process of making weight – and he looked bigger than Tszyu – his late arrival risks leaving him underprepared.
“It was probably promotional – some kind of strategy from the promoters,” said his outspoken trainer Hector Bermudez. “They wanted to get my man unfocused. The only thing that can get him unfocused is that ugly face right there.”
The “ugly face” to which Bermudez was referring was that of Omar Iferd, Tszyu’s chef who – according to those present, uncharacteristically – chose to goad Velazquez almost as soon as he arrived. “You’ve got nothing – there’s levels here,” Iferd could be heard shouting. “Enjoy the pain. How’s your weight?”
To the last of those one of Velazquez’s team responded “Are you on weight, fat boy?”, but for all of the understandable frustration they would have felt at their delay, they may also have been heartened to learn that Tszyu’s preparations have also been imperfect. Owing to his new trainer Pedro Diaz’s commitments to Norair “Noel” Mikaeljan’s WBC cruiserweight title fight with Badou Jack on Saturday in LA, one Stefan Hubert was scheduled to fly in from Belgrade, Serbia, to oversee the final days of Tszyu’s build-up. Hubert, however, is yet to receive a visa, so when Tszyu was doing pad work on Friday it was instead with Khalil Saab, who worked with him while he remained an amateur.
“Every day,” Tszyu responded when asked how much he and Diaz were in contact. “Every morning. Every little thing. Every training is mapped out. I’ve got my team here – Khalil, Omar and the boys helping me out. They’re in contact with Pedro as well. Right now the hard work’s done. I’ve put everything into it to get to this stage. Right now it’s just about freshening up.”
Tszyu, by then, had become a considerably more tense figure than the one seen on Wednesday at a pre-fight promotional activity with the South Sydney Rabbitohs, and also than he had been up until Velazquez’s arrival. Throughout his pad work he was largely loose and relaxed; the same applied as he had his photo taken with some children and when he made his way around a gym displaying his fight posters on each wall. After he and Velazquez first went face to face, however, Tszyu was visibly irritated. Whether that is a reflection of the pressure he is under ahead of a fight that could yet end his career at the highest level or something he detected in Velazquez that he disliked was ultimately unclear, but it was there for all to see.
“It’s the first time we’ve seen each other,” he also said. “Honestly, I can’t wait to just get in there and punch his face – that’s what I was thinking. It wasn’t the laugh and the smile that he was putting out. That face is gonna get punched.”
Velazquez, even by the standards of Tszyu, is a man of very few words. “I think he had a great career,” he said of his opponent, after some prompting. “He had a great career. I think he got his name off his dad – his dad got a big name – but I’m here to beat him. That’s what I’m here for.” Appropriately enough, Velazquez was standing in front of a wall covered in Kostya Tszyu fight posters during the stage of his hall-of-fame career in which Tszyu was in his prime.
“I love that they thought I had something to do with it,” George Rose, of Tsyzu’s promoters No Limit, said to BoxingScene of Velazquez’s delay. “It was unfortunate, the way that it worked out. I’m stoked that they made it here this morning.
“Being here, in Australia, it’s always a worry when you bring in international opponents. Australia’s very strict with who they’ll let in, so visa issues to get here; long flight; everything else that comes with it… Until they get through customs here in Sydney, I’m always nervous.
“You’ve gotta find someone to blame, right? I’m flattered that they think I can control flights in America. Me; Donald Trump; there must be only two people that can do it.
“You do need a few days to get over [the time difference], especially ‘cause we’ve got daylight savings here too. We’ve got long, late, sunny days – if they’re not really focused on that recovery process then it will affect them, and it doesn’t hit you in the first days. It’s a couple of days after that if you haven’t acclimatised properly, and that will be leading into that fight time. If he doesn’t do it right, then around that fight time he will be feeling it.”
Asked about the change in Tszyu’s mood, he responded: “I thought he had a really good vibe, getting in here; seeing everyone back in his old gym. I think when Velazquez looked forward and was smiling and almost looking arrogant in his approach to Tim, I think that changed his demeanour massively. Before, you would have seen Tim having open chats with everyone. As soon as that happened, that’s put him in the zone where he’s locked in to put on a big performance. He’s a very disciplined guy, and when you see that switch flick for him, that’s what he’s got to do.”
