Boxing Results: Tim Tszyu defeats Jeff Horn

By Boxing News - 08/26/2020 - Comments

By Allan Fox: In an ugly to watch grappling match, unbeaten junior middleweight contender Tim Tszyu (16-0, 12 KOs) defeated former WBO welterweight champion Jeff Horn (20-3-1, 13 KOs) by an eighth-round stoppage on Wednesday night in a scheduled 10-round fight at the Queensland Country Bank Stadium, Townsville, Australia.

It wasn’t an outstanding performance from Tszyu, as he didn’t show the same explosive power that his father Kostya had. Tsyzyk looked very beatable tonight, but he was facing a mediocre junior middleweight contender with stamina problems.

Horn looked a lot older than his chronological age of 32, and he doesn’t have the youth to be grappling the way he did. If this fight had taken place three years ago when Horn was a little younger in 2017, he might have beaten Tszyu, but not tonight. Horn is too old to be using this style of fighting against more youthful guys.

A very old-looking Horn was dropped by a short left hand from Tszyu in round three. That was one of the few clean-landing shots in the fight, seeing most of the punches were thrown at close range from both fighters and weren’t super powerful.

In the sixth round, Horn hit the deck again, this time from a punch to the midsection. Also, this was another shot that was thrown from in close, and Horn wasn’t ready for it.

The 32-year-old Horn opted to stay on his stool rather than come out for the ninth round. It wasn’t a case of the 2012 Olympian Horn taking a considerable beating. There was mostly pure wrestling going on and very few telling shots.

But in Horn’s case, he was exhausted from the Ricky Hatton-esque fighting style that he had employed for the fight. Horn used the same manner that Hatton had done with his 11th round stoppage victory over Tim’s famous father former IBF/WBA/WBC 140-lb champion Kostya Tszyu in their fight on June 4, 2005.

The only difference was, Horn wasn’t as good of a grappler as Hatton, and he didn’t have the inside ability, and he didn’t fight as dirty.

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By the 8th round, Horn was more tired than Tim Tszyu, and it was clear that his mauling approach had backfired on him, as he was the one that was exhausted than his opponent.

With the victory, the 25-year-old IBF #6, WBO #9, WBC #12 154-lb contender Tszyu stays unbeaten and keeps marching forward. The way Tszyu looked, it’s hard to see him defeating the talented fighters at 154 like Jermell Charlo, Jeison Rosario, Erislandy Lara, Jarrett Hurd, Tony Harrison, and Julian Williams.

Tszyu is an excellent domestic level fighter, but he doesn’t look like he belongs in the same league as the elite-level world-class fighters. He’s not that type of talent. Perhaps if Tszyu lost a little weight and dropped down to 147, possibly his power would go further, and he’d have a better chance of success, but not at 154. I don’t see it.

At this point, it would be a bad idea to let Tszyu near any of those mentioned above top junior middleweights or even some of the regular contenders like Brian Castano, Israil Madrimov, or Kell Brook. Tszyu is more at the Sam Egginton level in this writer’s view.

Even at 35, at the end of his career, Kostya looked a lot more potent in his loss to Hatton. A lot of boxing fans would agree that Kostya would have beaten Hatton if the fight hadn’t involved so much grappling.

The referee that worked that fight didn’t do anything to break the fighters when it was pure wrestling for sustained periods. Had a different referee worked that fight, Hatton would have been trouble as he was when he fought Floyd Mayweather Jr and Manny Pacquiao.

“I want everyone to know my name’s Tim, not ‘the son.’ This is a young man’s sport and I was better this time,” Tim Tszyu said after the fight. “It was an honor to share the ring with Jeff.”

We’ll have to see what’s next for Tszyu, but it would be wise for his handlers to continue to bring him along slowly. He’s not ready to take on the cream of the 154-lb division now, and I’m not sure that he ever will.

Again, Tszyu would be better suited to fighting at 147 if possible because he doesn’t have the hand speed, power, or the overall talent to compete with the best at junior middleweight. We saw that tonight.

For Tszyu to be dragged eight rounds against a marginal 154-pounder like Horn was very telling. An excellent junior middleweight would have destroyed Horn within four rounds tonight.

Even some of the fringe level fighters like Jorge Cota, Charles Conwell, Liam Smith, and Carlos Adames would have taken Horn apart within six rounds.

I rate Tszyu below those guys in talent, which is why he needs to think about moving down to 147 if he wants to be one of the top fighters.

“Tim was young, hungry, he’s an absolute champion,” said Horn after the match. “He’s now is the #1 in Australia. He wasn’t before this. He was saying he was, but he certainly earned it now.”