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Tim Tszyu Thinks Keith Thurman Fight Makes Business Sense, Would Choose Fundora Rematch
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Keith Idec
Keith Idec
RingMagazine.com
Tim Tszyu Thinks Keith Thurman Fight Makes Business Sense, Would Choose Fundora Rematch
Tim Tszyu understandably was asked about rematches with Sebastian Fundora and Bakhram Murtazaliev during a Zoom interview with a few reporters this week.

The former WBO junior middleweight champion made it perfectly clear, though, that he is more interested in his “unfinished business” with a former unified welterweight titleholder. If the Australian contender can end his two-fight losing streak Sunday afternoon against American Joey Spencer, Tszyu seems most interested in fighting Keith Thurman next.

Thurman (31-1, 23 KOs, 1 NC) came to Australia last month for his third-round technical knockout of Brock Jarvis (22-2, 20 KOs) on March 12 for the express purpose of promoting an eventual showdown with Sydney’s Tszyu (24-2, 17 KOs). The only reason Tszyu fought Fundora a year ago was because Thurman withdrew from their pay-per-view main event due to a biceps injury and Fundora replaced him on two weeks’ notice.

“I think it makes sense business-wise,” Tszyu said of fighting Thurman. “The whole Australia now knows Keith Thurman. You know? And he was out in the public, he was out in the news, he was doing his media circles for the fact that Australia now knows him, you know? And it creates, again, a rivalry and some unfinished business.”

Thurman is 36 and has boxed only four times in the past eight years. The talkative Clearwater, Florida native nevertheless knows how to sell a fight much better than Fundora (22-1-1, 14 KOs), who owns the WBC and WBO 154-pound championships.

Beyond his hesitance to promote, Fundora, a 6-foot-6 southpaw from Coachella, California, might need to make a mandated defense of his WBO belt next against Puerto Rican challenger Xander Zayas (21-0, 13 KOs).

“If you were to give me the options, I would choose Fundora, of course,” Tszyu said. “I think it makes business sense to have the Thurman fight as well. And in terms of technical styles, I think they’re both awkward type fights. You know, they’re not straightforward type opponents. But Thurman, he’s a mover, he’s a swinger, he comes with really weird punches. So, it’s about adapting with him.”

Spencer (19-1, 11 KOs), a native of Linden, Michigan, is more of a conventional boxer than Fundora and Thurman. DraftKings lists Tszyu as an 8-1 favorite, but Spencer is motivated to legitimize himself as a player in the 154-pound division two years after Mexican-American southpaw Jesus Ramos (23-1, 19 KOs) stopped him in the seventh round at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

“Look, I’m not underestimating Joey Spencer, first of all,” Tszyu said. “Obviously, he’s the number one task. But yeah, I think the Keith Thurman fight is the one that’s [in] the cards.”

Tszyu was dropped four times and stopped in the third round of his last bout by Russia’s Murtazaliev (23-0, 17 KOs), who defended his IBF junior middleweight title October 19 at Caribe Royale Orlando in Orlando, Florida. Fundora defeated Tszyu by split decision in his previous bout in March 2024 at T-Mobile Arena, where Tszyu fought through a ghastly gash near the center of his hairline for 10 rounds.

Tszyu-Spencer will headline a four-fight show streamed by Amazon’s Prime Video on Saturday night in the United States (10 p.m. ET; 7 p.m. PT).

Keith Idec is a senior writer and columnist for The Ring. He can be reached on X @idecboxing.

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