By Adam Baskin: Former unified light welterweight Kostya Tszyu congratulated his son Tim Tszyu last Saturday night after his ninth round demolition job on Tony Harrison to win the WBO interim junior middleweight title in their contest at the Qudos Bank Arena, Sydney, Australia.
Kostya (31-2, 25 KOs) says he saw “mistakes” that Tim Tszyu (22-0, 16 KOs) made, but feels he did well, and he also praised his other son, junior middleweight prospect Nikita (5-0, 4 KOs), who stopped Bo Belbin in the fourth round on the undercard last Saturday night.
Tim wore down the former WBC 154-lb champion Harrison (29-4-1, 21 KOs) with pressure and heavy shots until finally unleashing an avalanche of unanswered blows in the ninth round to get the stoppage.
The fight was competitive through the first eight rounds, as Harrison had success with his powerful jab that kept Tim from being able to get to him at times. When Harrison started fading in the eighth, Tszyu took advantage of the situation, hitting him with repeated right hands.
After the eighth round, it was clear that Harrison was on the verge of being knocked out unless he got on his bike and stayed away from Tszyu..
“The fight has just ended. Today, Timothy became [interim WBO junior middleweight] world champion. Congratulations, son,” said Kostya Tszyu via Fighthype, giving kudos to his son Tim following his ninth round knockout win over Tony Harrison last Saturday night in Sydney, Australia.
“Good fight, of course. There were mistakes, but you did well, and also Nikita,” continued Kostya. “Nikita, you need to study. I love you. Well done. Congratulations.”
Tim Tszyu, 28, will challenge Jermell Charlo for his undisputed junior middleweight championship next. The only way the fight doesn’t happen next is if Charlo’s injured left hand requires more rehabilitation before he returns to the ring. In that case, we could see Tszyu take another stay-busy fight to get ready for Charlo.
Kostya retired in 2005 following an 11th round stoppage loss to Ricky Hatton in Manchester, England. Hatton spent most of the fight holding & wrestling Tszyu to keep him from using his superior power & offensive skills to stop him.
When there was separation, Tszyu got the better of Hatton, but those moments were few & far between. Hatton held all night, and unfortunately, there wasn’t a good referee like Joe Cortez to penalize Ricky for his excessive holding.
