By Jim Dower: 22-year-old middleweight prospect Tim Tszyu (1-0) defeated Zoran Cassady (1-3-1) by a 6 round unanimous decision last Saturday night in his pro debut at the Noble Room, Sydney Cricket Ground, Sydney, NSW, Australia. The judges scored the fight 60-54, 60-54, and 60-54.
Tszyu is the son of former light welterweight champion Kostya Tszyu. Tim looks a lot like his father, and seems to have the same heavy hands as him. Where they differ is in the size and defensive skills department. The 5’10” Tim isn’t nearly as fast as the 5’7” Kostya and lacks the crushing power that he had. Tim is also a lot heavier. Kostya fought at 140, and Tim is a lean middleweight.
Tim Tszyu was constantly coming forward looking to nail Cassady with shots all night long. The power was impressive from Tszyu. He landed a lot of heavy punches in the first three rounds that would have knocked out a lot of fighters in the middleweight division. Cassady, 21, showed a great chin in taking the heavy blows in the fight.
Tszyu, 22, trapped Cassady against the ropes in round 2 and worked him over with triple left hooks to the body and tremendous rights to the head. How Cassady took the shots is hard to know, because he really took a beating in that round. Tszyu was hammering Cassady with everything in his arsenal in the 2nd round, and the tough Australian fighter took the shots and kept throwing back his own but with a lot less power.
In the 3rd round, Tszyu landed a short left hook that snapped Cassady’s head back hard causing him to back up against the ropes. Cassady was able to land three jabs in a row to the head of Tszyu while he was coming forward looking to nail him.
Tszyu showed little head movement to get out of the way of those simple jabs. Tszyu then hit Cassady with a short right hand that exploded off of his head. Cassady took it well and fired back a double jab that hit Tszyk both times. There was no defense at all from Tszyu.
In the 6th and final round, Tszyu tried hard to score a knockout, as he poured it on in landing a number of heavy shots. Cassady kept fighting back hard, and was able to land some nice shots of his own to make it out of the round without any problems. Cassady was the one landing shots as the fight ended. Tszyu stood and grinned at him as the bell sounded.
There was a lot to like in Tszyu’s performance. His power looks very good. He showed the ability to throw short punches with amazing power just like his father Kostya. Tszyu’s hand speed is fairly good for a middleweight. He looks faster than a lot of the top middleweights in the division.
Where Tim Tszyu needs improvement is in his defensive skills. He’s too wide open for anything that his opponents throw at him. Tszyu is going to need to fix his defensive flaws for him to go far in boxing. Tszyu is not as advanced as his father Kostya when he was the same age.