Wednesday, December 10

SYDNEY, Australia – The latest reminder of the extent to which in so many territories boxing remains a niche sport was provided on Wednesday morning in Sydney, where Tim Tszyu – Australia’s highest-profile active fighter – promoted his contest on December 17 with Anthony Velazquez at an event hosted by the rugby league team South Sydney Rabbitohs.

Tszyu is not only Australia’s highest-profile active fighter and the son of the retired junior-welterweight champion Kostya – perhaps the finest Australian fighter of them all – he is also the figurehead of the era increasingly recognised as the most successful Australian boxing has ever known, he is fighting in his home city for the first time in almost three years, and he has the support of No Limit and Main Event, the country’s leading promoter and the pay-per-view arm of the influential broadcaster Foxtel.

According to Matt Rose of No Limit, a party of 50 associated with the Rabbitohs will attend the 157lbs catchweight contest between Tszyu and Velazquez at the regrettably named TikTok Entertainment Centre. At the Rabbitohs’ training ground, however, there was little question that for all that Tszyu and his date with Velazquez benefitted from being associated with the team he is a long-term follower of, the Rabbitohs – and not Tszyu – were the priority of the majority of the media in attendance.

Representatives of some of Australia’s leading newspapers were present, which – in other territories at least – boxing promoters sometimes recognise as half the battle, but in an atypical opportunity for those present to interview Tszyu and the Rabbitohs player Cody Walker side by side, Walker was the one who spoke for considerably longer. Among the questions Tszyu answered were about the support he receives from the Rabbitohs – “We’ll be all there to support him next Wednesday to see that redemption story and see him raise his hand,” Walker said – but Tszyu was holding and then wearing a Rabbitohs shirt with his name on the back and will have seen the value in what was unfolding every bit as much as Rose.

Rugby league, AFL and cricket represent the three biggest sporting passions of one of the world’s most sports-obsessed cultures, and it is also the Australian summer. AFL is particularly popular in Perth and Melbourne, the city that hosts the Australian Open – one of the four tennis grand slams. Rugby league, and therefore the Rabbitohs, is popular in Sydney. At a time when the Ashes series between Australia and England is dominating the cricket agenda – and inevitably received considerably more attention than Jai Opetaia-Huseyin Cinkara – a boxer reaching a non-boxing audience was unquestionably No Limit’s aim.

Rose, incidentally, works with three Rabbitohs players. No Limit also recently signed Nelson Asofa-Solomona, the tallest player in NRL history, and will oversee his becoming a professional boxer.

For his part, Tsyzu, wearing sunglasses, looked healthy and strolled around with the relaxed demeanour of a tourist on their way to a hotel swimming pool. BoxingScene previously witnessed him that relaxed on the eve of a fight when he travelled to Orlando, Florida to challenge the heavy-handed IBF junior-middleweight champion Bakhram Murtazaliev in 2024. But what ultimately seemed far more relevant at the Rabbitohs’ training ground is not that he lost that night to Murtazaliev – it was that despite having a defeat on his record by the time he arrived in Orlando, Tszyu believed he had deserved the decision in his previous contest against Sebastian Fundora and what could be detected was the air of invincibility worn by a fighter who didn’t believe that they could lose. Murtazaliev, damagingly, taught Tszyu beyond doubt that he could, and in their rematch Fundora then reminded him of that reality once again.

When he lost to Fundora the second time, unlike during their first fight and against Murtazaliev, Tszyu looked a defeated fighter in every way in which he had once believed himself invincible. That he has rediscovered so much of that confidence says so much about how positive it has been for him to work with his new trainer Pedro Diaz in Miami, so close to where he lost to Murtazaliev. Diaz, of Cuba, may never prove capable of correcting the shortcomings in Tszyu’s technique, but after three damaging defeats in four fights the rediscovery of his confidence – which may yet be tested on fight night – is even more beneficial than any attention delivered and pay-per-view revenue generated by any other sport could ever be.

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.”

Monday, December 15

SYDNEY, Australia – The final pre-fight press conference for Tim Tszyu-Anthony Velazquez was cancelled out of respect for the 15 victims shot in Sunday evening’s terrorist shooting in nearby Bondi Beach.

Many of those involved in boxing are far too often too easy to accuse of being callous and insensitive – they even more regularly exist inside of a bubble – but promoters No Limit choosing against more widely publicising their fight in an occasion that could have proven vulgar was unquestionably the right call.

To follow the local and national news reports of what happened and to hear the city’s residents talking is to begin to understand that the Australian psyche has long believed that its remote location makes their country secure from the modern-day threats posed to the western world. The way that that belief has been shattered has left one of the world’s most celebrated cities in a state of shock. Its leading fighter may be fighting in the picturesque Darling Harbour on Wednesday evening, but while Tszyu – given his status as a popular pay-per-view fighter – perhaps has a responsibility to be a cause for positivity by winning, the reality remains that those involved on Wednesday would have had a reminder that boxing shouldn’t really matter at all. 

The atmosphere on the streets of Sydney was, unquestionably, sombre. Many of its residents could visibly be seen operating in a fog not unlike that sometimes seen during the worst points of the Covid pandemic – they existed almost in their own worlds and yet if conversations were taking place they surrounded only one thing. 

There also could be found a noticeably increased police presence without attempting to look for it, and in the evening, the Sydney Opera House was lit up with a menorah to mark the second day of Hanukkah – the Jewish celebration that contributed to those in their community being targeted and attacked at Bondi Beach.

Inside the TikTok Entertainment Centre where Tszyu-Velazquez will take place, at a time when there remained uncertainty over its status, No Limit and broadcasters Main Event were overseeing some of the last of the pre-fight build-up aware that they were potentially wasting their time.

Tszyu, Velazquez, and the undercard fighters present were available for interview. Main Event – who even after permission was received from the relevant authorities to proceed with Wednesday’s promotion had to consider whether they truly saw the value in it taking place when planned – also filmed head-to-heads for those involved in its most appealing fights.

Tszyu and Velazquez cut calmer figures than they had when they first came face to face on Friday. There regardless was noticeable spite in the words of Sam Goodman and Tyler Blizzard when they sat opposite each other; BoxingScene has interviewed both, and perceived Goodman – who lost to Blizzard while they were amateurs – to dislike Blizzard in a way that Blizzard doesn’t dislike him. 

If it briefly became tempting to conclude that the boxing bubble was protecting those inside it from the sadness being endured by those so nearby, when the subject of Sunday’s shootings came up it was noticeable how much more attention was being paid by others close enough to listen. It was also noticeable that greater thought was being given to words spoken, which starkly contrasted the countless pre-fight occasions when empty words have been used and almost immediately forgotten – often again and again.

“For any fighter – for everybody in the country – it’s a big shock,” No Limit’s George Rose told BoxingScene when asked if he was concerned about his leading fighter’s psyche. “Forty-eight hours from the fight you want to be absolutely locked in and zoned in, and for most of the fighters they’ll be that hungry at the moment that they’ll be focused on their own things they’re doing and what they’ve got to do to prepare for the fight. 

“Tim, in particular, still seems very locked in, and his demeanour today is all about what he’s got to do for this fight. Velazquez is a real, live challenge in this fight, and he knows that he’s gotta be on.”

Tuesday, December 16

SYDNEY, Australia – A moment’s silence was held outside of the TikTok Entertainment Centre at the start of the public weigh-in for Tim Tszyu-Anthony Velazquez, out of respect for the 15 victims killed during the terrorist shooting at Bondi Beach, and by the time of the weigh-in’s conclusion it was difficult to avoid how well that silence had been observed.

It is increasingly common at the highest level of boxing for weigh-ins to be ceremonial, but everyone who gathered to watch Tszyu, Velazquez and the undercard fighters stand on the scales – Liam Paro, fighting Ireland’s Paddy Donovan on the undercard of Nikita Tszyu-Michael Zerafa on January 16, in his capacity for broadcasters Main Event was among them – was able to judge their true condition with their own eyes. 

If promoters gain from ceremonial weigh-ins via the footage and photography that shows fighters in their rehydrated conditions looking fit and healthy to fight, a cynic might argue that they lose something when the less hungry among them behave in a way that they wouldn’t when on edge and desperate to refuel. The weigh-ins at the recent contest between Jai Opetaia and Huseyin Cinkara were ceremonial, but they fought in the Gold Coast, and the Australian National Boxing Federation Queensland is likelier to approve of requests for them to take place than the Combat Sports Authority of New South Wales, the commission that oversees fights in Sydney.

Jason Fawcett, who confronts Marco Romeo in an all-Australian welterweight contest, slapped his opponent and later had to be spoken to by promoters No Limit to prevent potential intervention from the Combat Sports Authority of New South Wales. The tension between Ahmad Reda and Wayne Telepe, who fight for the Australian junior-welterweight title, led to an arguably worse outcome when Telepe made a firing-gun gesture with his hand – not that there was ever any suggestion that he was aware of how vulgar doing so would have seemed off the back of what happened at Bondi Beach.

The tension was arguably eased when Koen Mazoudier was forced to strip naked to make weight for his Australian junior-middleweight title fight with Dominic Molinaro – not least because some of the crowd that had gathered were sat on stairs far higher than the stage the scales were on, and given No Limit’s George Rose so unconvincingly preserved his modesty.

After Tszyu and Velazquez weighed in, Tszyu – fighting in his home city for the first time in almost three years – refused to take his eyes off of the opponent who was at least as interested in posing for the cameras Tszyu almost didn’t seem aware existed. After they shook hands Tszyu pointed to his neck and spoke to Velazquez to tell him that he had seen a muscle twitching in his neck in a sign of his nerves but Velazquez, beyond looking slightly drawn facially, otherwise looked mostly at ease.

When Tszyu was then taken towards the television cameras to be interviewed one of his hands remained behind his back and was twitching in a subtle demonstration of the tension he was also feeling. His new trainer Pedro Diaz had finally arrived in town and, when asked, then told BoxingScene that he was unaware of the criticisms of him from Hector Bermudez, the trainer of Velazquez, but spoke with a both defensive and egotistical tone – and potentially even in a pre-prepared way – that suggested that what he said wasn’t true. 

“Yesterday when we had a face-off he had this pulsating thing on his neck – it’s still pulsating,” Tszyu told BoxingScene when asked about the gesture to Velazquez. “He needs to calm that nerve down. It doesn’t happen when you’re not nervous.”

“A conversation had to be had after the weigh-in, that’s for sure,” Rose later said to BoxingScene when asked about what unfolded between Fawcett and Romeo. “While we love building hype and building attention for a fight we don’t want to do it that way. A stern conversation was had after, from all involved. Just a reminder: ‘That’s not on. Sort it out in the ring tomorrow night.’ 

“[Ceremonial weigh-ins] make it hard to interview fighters because they’re well and truly drained. We can’t really go against prime-time news and things tonight; we have to be mindful of when we do it and how we do it. But you also get them at their ‘hangriest’ moments, which can be good too.”

Wednesday, December 17

SYDNEY, Australia – The great and the good of the New South Wales sports scene was present at the TikTok Entertainment Centre to watch Tim Tszyu-Anthony Velazquez, in the latest demonstration of not only Tszyu’s significance in the landscape of a sports-obsessed nation in which boxing is typically peripheral, but also of his promoters No Limit’s influence.

That George and Matt Rose work beyond boxing with, among others, players for the NRL team South Sydney Rabbitohs – who Tszyu supports – contributed to a party of 50 attending on Wednesday evening. Also could be seen was the retired Andrew “Joey” Johns – one of the finest rugby league players ever and therefore one of his profession’s so-called “immortals” – the retired Josh Mansour, and Nelson Asofa-Solomona, who despite being at his physical peak so recently abandoned his NRL career to sign with No Limit to prioritise boxing.

Tasman Fighters’ Mick Francis and his matchmaker Matt Clark were also among those present, in support of their featherweight Tyler Blizzard – whose 10-round contest with Sam Goodman was the finest of the evening – and will likely have left aggrieved at the scores of 100-90, 100-90 and 99-91 in Goodman’s favour because the reality is that those scores were far too wide for so competitive a fight. So, too, was their likeable Irish light heavyweight Conor Wallace, who just as Goodman and Blizzard were in the ring asked BoxingScene’s prediction for the outcome, predicted victory for Goodman on account of his “being a level above”, and then a stoppage for Tszyu inside three rounds, largely on account of Tszyu’s new co-manager Mike Altamura’s expertise. 

The 10 bells were observed before Goodman-Blizzard, out of respect for the 15 victims tragically killed at the harrowing terrorist shooting on Sunday evening at nearby Bondi Beach. They followed Callum Peters stopping Cody Beekin in their fight for the vacant Australian middleweight title, and doing so to some controversy, despite Beekin struggling to defend himself and repeatedly being caught cleanly and hurt.

Mansour proved an unusual choice for broadcasters Main Event to attempt to sell the all-Australian grudge match on January 16 between Michael Zerafa and Nikita Tszyu – one, incidentally, expected to attract a bigger crowd than Tszyu-Velazquez – but another reminder of the value of cross-promotion was regardless delivered when Zerafa and Tszyu faced off in the ring. 

All that being witnessed, there was little question that Tim Tszyu was again the focal point of the evening and threatens to be an industry unto himself. Pre-fight he had spoken of the “power of the mind” as a consequence of his time under his new trainer Pedro Diaz, and while few of the “angles” Diaz promised could be seen throughout his performance, there existed demonstrations of Diaz’s success in nurturing Tszyu’s mind. Tszyu had consistently spoken like the “rejuvenated” fighter he described himself as and there was not only often more patience once he was in the ring – close to when he would be making his ring walk, instead of him hitting pads and building his heart rate, footage could be seen of he and Diaz sat side by side in his dressing room, apparently deep in thought and, as it is so often described as being, “in the zone”. 

In the moments before a big fight it is natural to consider the consequences of the so-called “A side” losing, and, particularly given that Tszyu had lost three of his previous four fights and was being rebuilt in his home city, the extent to which the picture surrounding his career – including for No Limit and Main Event – risks being as finely balanced as a house of cards was pronounced. 

When he was introduced in the ring the master of ceremonies then mentioned so many of the lightly regarded titles he has previously won – in an apparent attempt to further build the evening that existed on his broad shoulders – that Apollo Creed’s tongue-in-cheek introduction ahead of his fight with Ivan Drago in Rocky IV was brought to mind.

His performance – inevitably – struggled to match that nature of introduction and prompted as many questions as it did answers, but, as is consistent with one of the most enthralling careers of the past three years, it was again rarely dull.

Post-fight Tszyu spoke of his ambitions for 2026 and potentially of challenging Xander Zayas and in so doing again betrayed an admirable desire and hunger. He also had to check with his wife Alexandra where they are about to go on holiday – the answer was Iceland – and how long for, such had been his commitment to and focus on his pre-fight preparations and latest fight.