Cut Early Tim Tszyu Still Delivered Wednesday KO

Facing adversity after an early cut in his Wednesday night main event battle in Australia, unbeaten Junior Middleweight Contender Tim Tszyu fought through it all and scored a 5th round TKO over Dennis Hogan win keep his perfect record intact.

Tszyu faced a tough challenge from veteran former world title challenger Hogan, who cut Tszyu in the second round over the left eye from an accidental clash of heads. The cut clearly bothered Tszyu with blood streaming down his left cheek for much of the rest of the second frame. However, the talented son of the Hall of Famer, Kostya Tszyu, remained calm. and his corner got the cut mostly under control.

Then, over the next two rounds, Tszyu took control of the fight landing with overhand rights and solid lefts to the body.

One of those lefts to the right side of Hogan’s ribs caused the Irish-born Hogan to wince and backup late in the fourth with the sold out crowd of over 7,000 fans in Newcastle Entertainment Center roaring.

Thinking he could overwhelm the 36-year old Hogan, Tszyu pressed the action in round five and scored an immediate knockdown with a leaping left uppercut that stunned Hogan. Hogan dropped to his knees and took the full eight count. Observe,

Boom ? pic.twitter.com/CFsVSUxTRc

— James Grills (@jimgrills) March 31, 2021

Tszyu did not come in wildly after the knockdown, instead measuring Hogan for occasional rights and again the left uppercut. That proved his most effective punch landing couple of more of them.

Finally in the final :40 seconds he trapped Hogan in the corner with an overhand right, another left uppercut and a left of the body and Hogan’s corner threw the towel for the TKO at 2:29 of the fifth.

The win lifts Tszyu to 18-0 with 14 KOs and has him in line for a World Title shot potentially later this Summer with new WBO Jr. Middleweight Champion, Brian Castano.

In the ring post-fight Tszyu said of the early cut and whether it bothered him?

“No. I knew I was going to take him to the ‘deeper waters’ (later rounds) and let him sink. That’s what happened.”

When asked about the body shots and the big left uppercuts, Tszyu said,

“As I said, this is not ‘Tip Tap.’ This is hard punching…in the ring, This is “My kingdom.” I could see it from round two. I was warming up and I knew it could go for a few more rounds… I got the win.”

Tszyu came to the ring to Queen’s “Another one bites the dust” in front of a partisan crowd of over 7,000 in the Newcastle two hours north of Sydney, where his father had headlined seven times previously.

There had been pre-fight controversy about Hogan wanting to wear trunks with a conflicting betting sponsor “PointsBet” on them. Hogan had threatened to pull out of the main event, if he wasn’t allowed to have his sponsor on his attire. Ultimately after being told by the promoter he wouldn’t be allowed to wear them, Hogan did in fact have the sponsor on his trunks.

In the end, the veteran Hogan, who had lost world title challenges to Jaime Munguia and Jermell Charlo in 2019, didn’t offer much and drops to 28-4-1 on his career.

As for Tszyu, who’s already beaten national hero/former World Welterweight champ Jeff Horn earlier in his career, he’s clearly the most popular fighter in Australia. And, now we wait to see if the World Title fight comes to him or if he might come to the U.S., etc. for that to happen.