By unanimous decision: how Tszyu Jr. defeated Inoue and won a new championship belt

A new challenge for a rising star

In 2020, after defeating Jeff Horn, Timofey Tszyu said: "I am Tim Tszyu, not Tszyu's son."

This was the loudest Australian victory in his career at that time, and it seemed that now he was expecting a meteoric rise.

But after a year and a half, Tim did not come close to title fights.

He continued to fight in Australia, where top-level boxers rarely came, even at the best of times.

And after the introduction of severe restrictions related to the coronavirus, their arrival has become even more difficult.

For example, UFC featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski decided to move to the United States, so as not to inevitably be "restricted to travel abroad."

Moreover, in July of this year, Michael Zerafa refused to go to a duel with Tszyu, referring precisely to the new restrictions announced by the country's government.

The evening of boxing was saved by Steve Spark, who agreed to come on as a substitute without even going through training camp.

The choice of the Japanese Takeshi Inoue, nicknamed the Lion, as a rival was not so critical, but there were enough doubts about the level of the Asian.

The only known opponent in Inoue's career was the Mexican Jaime Mungia, who won with a clear advantage in the confrontation with him.

The rest of Takeshi's fights were held in Japan and Thailand, and the level of rivals in most cases left much to be desired.

Incredible underdog exposure

For all Inoue's shortcomings, something else was obvious, he is a strong athlete with a hardened character.

Takeshi has never been knocked down, and Timofey has shown excellent knockout power in recent fights, having won five early victories in a row.

The son of a legend was determined to continue the pleasant trend.

Already in the first round, his interesting preparation was revealed - an uppercut blow from the front hand.

Tszyu several times asked for the protection of Leo, but in the next three minutes he preferred to work at the expense of other elements.

The fundamentality was read in Tim's actions.

Without haste at the same pace, investing only at the right moment, Tszyu did not strive to hit the head, but confidently took the rounds, realizing that the forces must be distributed correctly.

Starting from the fifth, he began to "study" the opponent's body, trying to cover up the Japanese.

And the next three minutes turned out to be critical for Inoue, who twisted his legs a couple of times.

But Lev resisted, and Tszyu returned to the work that he showed at the start.

From the second half of the fight, it became obvious that it would be extremely difficult to knock out the Tokyo native.

Inoue managed to close, reacted to the blows, substituting gloves.

Sometimes he even indicated presence with his own hits, although they did not have much effect.

But even simple work on the "pear" tires, and Tszyu postponed attempts to finish the fight ahead of schedule for the final round.

In it, the rivals decided to leave everything and arranged a small exchange.

Inoue managed to keep his strength, so he rarely clinched and answered a lot.

However, open boxing turned out to be a gamble for him.

In the middle of the round, Takeshi tried to sharply break the distance and missed a blow to the shoulder area, after which he fell.

Usually in such situations, knockdowns are not counted, but this time the referee Will Sulos recorded it.

Takeshi did not give the impression of a boxer in a groggy state, so he continued to act in mutual attacks, counting on lucky punch.

But there were no new falls, and the rout was recorded on the judges' cards.

120: 107, 119: 108 and 120: 107 - in favor of Tszyu.

“This guy is like a wall, glad that we managed to defeat him.

I had 12 great rounds before taking it to a whole new level.

Growth continues!

I have a statement for Brian Castagno.

Enjoy your honeymoon for now, but I'm coming after you, ”Tim said in the ring after the fight.  

The immediate prospects of the holder of two belts

World Boxing Organization (WBO) World Champion Brian Carlos Castagno is a logical choice as the next opponent for Tszyu, who owns two intermediate belts.

But the Argentine is still exempt from mandatory protection, and the WBO leadership does not impose its conditions on boxers, given the current situation in the world.

The Australian was already a mandatory contender for the belt when it was owned by Patrick Teixeira.

But it was precisely because of the new restrictions that Tim's team did not even enter into negotiations, and the title ended up with Castagno.

There is a possibility that the official contender for the belt will be determined in a duel between the first two numbers in the WBO ranking, and Magomed Kurbanov is currently on the second line.

The Russian has repeatedly stated his desire to meet with the son of the legendary boxer.

But Tszyu Sr. himself opposes this fight.

“There will be no fight with Kurbanov.

I am a dad and bring him here.

We beat a person at home.

Which fans will be delighted?

Why do we need this fight?

Tim will get negative immediately.

He will beat everyone and lose fans.

And so it will beat everyone there and get new ones.

I once gave my word not to touch my own.

Tim does too.

If the opponent gets there and wants to take the title, then please.

But this will not be in Russia, but in Australia.

I spoke with Kurbanov's dad - he told me the same thing, ”Tszyu explained on the air of Match TV.

In this case, Timofey has only one option - a meeting with Zerafa in order to finally "clean up" the Australian continent.