Tim Tszyu will get a career-high purse of $10 million for his WBO junior middleweight belt title defense against Sebastian Fundora on Saturday night at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
Australian Associated Press reports that the 29-year-old Tszyu (24-0, 17 KOs) will get a $10M purse [AU $15.million] for his fight against replacement opponent Fundora (20-1-1, 13 KO) this Saturday, March 30th on Prime PPV.
Bigger Payday Could Follow
With a win over Fundora, Tszyu could fight unbeaten superstar Terence Crawford next. Crawford is the World Boxing Organization mandatory for the WBO 154-lb belt that Tszyu holds. Tszyu will reportedly make an additional $10M [$15.3 million] for that fight.
If Tszyu wins that fight against Crawford, the sky is the limit for the dough he can make from his future fights. Facing Canelo Alvarez would see Tszyu get an enormous payday with a mega-payday.
First things first for Tszyu. He’s got to defeat the tough 6’5″ Fundora, who can punch and is very tall. Fundora’s only loss came in a fight he was winning against Brian Mendoza last April.
Tszyu Confident Ahead of Fundora Challenge
He got caught with a shot he didn’t see coming in the seventh round and was knocked out by the hard-hitting Mendoza, who has serious power, as Tszyu found out for himself in his close 12-round decision win last October in Australia.
“I’m not the one to fear,” Tszyu said. “He [Fundora] should be fearing me. That’s the difference. Nothing stops me, no matter what. In my mind, I live in a different era than we are now. We live in an era of Twitter battles rather than fighters.
“So I hope I can inspire more boxes out there. I saved the show – T-Mobile Arena, all of this stuff,” said Tszyu.
Tim can’t afford to dismiss the threat that Fundora possesses because if he mistakenly believes this is going to be an easy fight for him, he could be in for a long night just as Erickson Lubin was when he beaten.