“I feel like I can lift the universe up with my pinky right now,” Australian boxing superstar Tim Tszyu has declared ahead of his maiden world title fight against American Tony Harrison.
21-0 Tszyu spared no expense in a 10-week USA training camp in preparation for a scheduled January bout against unified super welterweight champion Jermell Charlo, only for Charlo to suffer a broken hand in December that canned the fight.
The undefeated Australian opted not to return home after that blow to his dreams of world domination. Instead he completed that brutal training block in Los Angeles and Los Vegas – an intense camp that foxsports.com.au in November revealed was set to cost a whopping $250,000.
“10 weeks we spent, it was a long time away from home,” he says. “Lucky now I’m back home. It’s good to be back home, just getting used to the weather first of all!”
Watch the return of Tim Tszyu as he faces former world champion Tony Harrison LIVE at Qudos Bank Arena, Sydney on Sunday March 12. BUY TICKETS or ORDER ON MAIN EVENT ON KAYO SPORTS >
If there’s one silver lining to the cancellation of January’s massive title bout, it’s that Tszyu has reaped the rewards of that intense period away from home.
The Australian told foxsports.com.au at last week’s Harrison announcement that the camp made him stronger than ever, and only increased his desire to finally have that title belt around his waist.
“I’m itchy. I’m very itchy,” he said. “I’ve been outside of my comfort zone. And I guess when you’re outside your comfort zone it always brings progress. A lot of growth has been made.”
Harrison: Charlo would’ve smashed Tszyu | 01:26
Tszyu trained under legendary LA trainer Joe Goossen in his famed Ten Goose Boxing Gym in the outskirts of LA, and pulled out all the stops with a series of elite sparring partners.
“It was good,” Tszyu says. “I got to mix it up with sparring partners that have got a similar style to Harrison. I understand how to fight these guys, these quick American top fighters.”
The list included a top-five super welterweight contender in Charles Conwell, a middleweight in D’Mitrius Ballard, and even a pair of super-middleweight twins in Justin (5-0) and Jason (4-1) Bell.
Three weight classes and around six kilograms heavier than the Aussie, it was a radical ploy to sharpen Tszyu’s defence against the knockout power and counterpunching of Charlo.
Charlo himself is a twin, with the gifted Bell brothers previously sparring against his older brother Jermall Charlo, the WBC middleweight champion.
So valuable was Tszyu’s time with the rising talents from Maryland that he has even flown out the pair to Australia in preparation for March 12’s title shot.
“I’ve got boys from America here, I flew them over,” he told foxsports.com.au. “Two boys. That type of style (that Harrison has) – African American, slick type of style.”
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It’s not the only big investment Tszyu has made in himself, even flying a personal chef, Omar Iferd, over to America for the entire ten-week camp. He also revealed the pair now live together.
“I’ve got my chef living with me, the food’s all organised. (It’s been) ten weeks now. It’s an investment that I made.”
George Rose, CEO of Tszyu’s promoters No Limit Boxing, said: “He spent the whole time in camp over there. Looking at the food they’re making, I’m shocked he looks as good as he does! The food looks so nice.
“He’s eating these great steaks and everything … that surprised me. He’s losing the weight and looking great.
“When I’ve tried to shred, it’s not tasty or pretty food,” he laughed before adding: “I’m going to have to hire the same bloke! I’ll move in with Timmy and Omar as well, see if they’ve got another room.”
No wonder Tszyu is looking ‘unbelievable’, as Rose says, ahead of the biggest fight of his career so far.
“I feel like I can lift the universe up with my pinky right now,” Tszyu says, brimming with confidence.
Tszyu’s own brother Nikita (4-0, 3KO) is also fighting on March 12 card, and joined his older brother in the states for the training camp. He told foxsports.com.au that the professionalism and intensity of the camp was just ‘insane’.
“It was cool, seeing the routine, the life that they were living. I saw everything on Instagram and Facebook, whatever they were doing. Being able to experience it was something different,” he said.
“There was so much more focus to it (than Australian boxers). I was there training with them for one week. That week honestly felt like months. It was insane. I’ve never experienced it – time just goes slowly.”
‘How did he get there?’ Tszyu called out | 02:09
Tszyu has not fought on home soil since beating Japanese star Takeshi Inoue in a convincing 12-round unanimous decision win in November 2021. Now he returns to the same venue – Qudos Bank Arena – and an expected sellout crowd of 20,000 parochial fans. But so much has changed.
“It’s a different vibe. For me, before I would have been like: ‘Woah man, this is crazy, Qudos Bank Arena’. Now, for me it’s like: ‘this is where I belong.’ There’s a difference in that mentality … It’s like ‘This is where we are now, it’s only going to go up from here’.”
That starts with Harrison, a former champ and the only man to have ever beaten Charlo. Tszyu even believes the Detroit native is a ‘better boxer’ than the man he was set to face in January.
But it won’t stop the Aussie from declaring with utter conviction that he will be victorious on his home soil.
“Yes. I will knock him out. It will end before the 12th.”
Watch the return of Tim Tszyu as he faces former world champion Tony Harrison LIVE at Qudos Bank Arena, Sydney on Sunday March 12. BUY TICKETS or ORDER ON MAIN EVENT ON KAYO SPORTS >
