The last venue to host Tim Tszyu’s previous fight on home soil has also landed the homecoming assignment.
BoxingScene.com has confirmed that Tszyu’s upcoming interim WBO junior middleweight title fight versus Tony Harrison will take place at Qudos Bank Arena in Sydney, Australia. The venue was finalized more than two weeks after terms were reached for the intriguing March 12 clash (March 11 primetime in the U.S.) between an unbeaten challenger and a former titleholder.
The bout will air live via pay-per-view in Australia. U.S. TV rights were not yet established. It has been assumed that Showtime will pick up the terrific matchup given its relationship with both fighters, though it remains speculation as this goes to publication.
Tszyu’s last fight in his home country also came at this very site, in his birth town and where he outpointed former title challenger Takeshi Inoue over twelve rounds in their November 2021 regional title fight.
The second-generation boxer—whose father Kostya is a Hall of Fame former undisputed junior welterweight champion—was already named the WBO mandatory challenger by that point, though his title shot was delayed. Tszyu agreed to wait out a rematch between Jermell Charlo (35-1-1, 19KOs) and Brian Castano (17-1-2, 12KOs) for the undisputed junior middleweight championship. That arrangement was accompanied by a deal with Premier Boxing Champions (PBC), which also has Charlo, Castano and Harrison.
Tszyu made his PBC and U.S. debut last March 26, where he survived an opening round knockdown to outpoint 2012 U.S. Olympian and former title challenger Terrel Gausha. Their twelve-round bout headlined a Showtime telecast from The Armory in Minneapolis, with Tszyu eager to then wait out the May 14 Charlo-Castano rematch with hard plans on challenging the winner.
Charlo scored a tenth-round knockout to defend his lineal, WBA, WBC and IBF titles and claim the WBO strap. With the win came the inherited WBO title defense while Charlo was also obligated to next face IBF number-one contender Bakhram Murtazaliev. A deal was struck for Tszyu to get next while Murtazaliev—the IBF mandatory since a November 2019 title eliminator win—once again agreed to a step aside package that has included appearances on the non-televised portion of Premier Boxing Champions (PBC) in each of his last four bouts.
Charlo-Tszyu was due to take place January 28 in Las Vegas. However, the event was canceled when Charlo suffered a left hand fracture prior to the Christmas holiday season, which left him medically unable to train through at least the end of February.
Tszyu was already facing a career-longest layoff heading into his first title fight. Eager to remain active, he and his team sought and were granted permission to fight for the interim WBO title during Charlo’s medically-excused ring absence. Russia’s Murtazaliev (21-0, 15KOs) was approached by Tszyu as the first choice of opponent as the highest-ranked available contender in the WBO 154-pound ratings.
When he wasn’t available for the fight, Tszyu moved on to Harrison, a former WBC titlist who was all too eager to accept.
Detroit’s Harrison (29-3-1, 21KOs) is responsible for the lone defeat on Charlo’s resume, earning a twelve-round, unanimous decision in their December 2018 WBC junior middleweight title fight in Brooklyn, New York. The two were due to meet in a June 2019 rematch, only for Harrison to suffer an injury which pushed their second fight to later that December—exactly 52 weeks to the day of their first fight. Harrison led on one scorecard and trailed on the other two cards through ten rounds before suffering an eleventh-round knockout to end his title reign in their December 2019 scorcher.
Just two fights have followed for the 32-year-old Harrison, both coming after the passing of his father and trainer Ali Salaam in April 2020 during the early stages of the global coronavirus pandemic. In his most recent start, Harrison soundly outpointed Spain’s Sergio Garcia over ten rounds last April 9 at Virgin Hotels Las Vegas. The show was headlined by Sebastian Fundora’s ninth-round stoppage of Erickson Lubin to win the interim WBC 154-pound title in their Fight of the Year-level slugfest.
Harrison became the number-one contender to that title with the win, and was in pursuit of a showdown versus Fundora. The fight was addressed during the annual WBC convention last November in Acapulco, Mexico.
Sampson Lewkowicz, Fundora’s promoter, sought a voluntary defense for Fundora during the ratings portion of the convention, stating that Harrison was not available. That claim was trumped by Alycia Baumgardner, the reigning lineal and unified junior lightweight champion who is trained by Harrison and insisted that her stablemate was available should the WBC order the fight.
Instead, he will risk his WBC ranking for a dangerous assignment where a win over Tszyu would entitle him to a trilogy clash with Charlo.
Per WBO rules, Charlo will have 180 days to face the winner of the interim title fight. It remains unclear if the IBF will attempt during that time to enforce its own, long overdue mandatory title fight.
Jake Donovan is a senior writer for BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox