Tim Tszyu Steamrolls Dennis Hogan; Bika Wins His Rubber Match With Soliman

Tim Tszyu is a chip off the old block. His father Kostya Tszyu had a Hall of Fame career and Tim appears headed in the same direction. Today in Newcastle, NSW, Australia, Tszyu pounded fellow Aussie Dennis Hogan into submission in five one-sided frames to advance his ledger to 18-0 (14). Tszyu entered the contest ranked #1 at 154 pounds by the WBO and #3 by the IBF.

Tszyu was dominant from the start although briefly slowed by a cut on the side of his left eye in round two, the result of an accidental clash of heads. In round five, he floored Hogan with a left uppercut and then pressed his advantage with a barrage of punches, forcing Hogan’s corner to toss in the towel. The official time was 2:29.

It was the third straight loss for Hogan (28-4-1). The skein began in April of 2019 in Mexico where he lost a 12-round majority decision to undefeated Jaime Munguia in a fight that most neutral observers thought that he won. That led to a match later that year in Brooklyn with Jermall Charlo who stopped him in seven frames.

Hogan missed all of 2020 when a match with former WBA/IBF junior middleweight champion Julian “J-Rock” Williams fell out when Williams tested positive for the coronavirus. Hogan prepared for that fight in Las Vegas, leaving his family behind in Australia, and was hugely disappointed when nothing came of it.

Tim Tszyu, 26, has made great headway in his boxing career without an assist from his famous father who moved back to Russia about a decade ago and started a new family. His next fight will likely come against Argentina’s Brian Castano (17-0-1) who won the WBO title last month with a one-sided decision over Brazil’s Patrick Teixeira.

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In a freaky undercard fight, super middleweights Sakia Bika (35-7-3) and Sam Soliman (46-15-1). both briefly world title-holders, met in a rubber match. The long-drawn-out trilogy opened in 2002 with Soliman, now a shopworn 47, winning a 12-round majority decision. The second installment played out in 2007 at a studio in Los Angeles. It was Season 3 of “The Contender” series and Bika, who turns 42 next month, turned the tables, winning an 8-round unanimous decision,

The rubber match was also an 8-round affair and Bika again prevailed. In a predictably tame fight, the Aussie by way of Cameroon won by comfortable margins: 80-73, 79-73, and 78-74.

Soliman was making his first start in 23 months, but Sika, who was favored by odds in the 3/1 range, had been out of action for a longer period, having last fought in October of 2017. After the bout, he expressed an interest in fighting Oscar De La Hoya who plans to resume his career on July 3. De La Hoya, 48, last fought in October of 2008 when he returned to the ring as a welterweight and was trounced by Manny Pacquiao.

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