Nikita Tszyu and Australia’s Short-Lived Boxing Renaissance

Junior middleweight Nikita Tszyu returned to the ring today (Wednesday, Aug. 20) in Sydney after a 12-month absence and scored a quick stoppage of Macedonian slug Lulzim Ismaili who was on the deck before the match was 90 seconds old and bowed out with an apparent rib injury after only one round. With the victory, the son of the great Kostya Tszyu and younger brother of former WBO 154-pound champion Tim Tszyu, advanced his record to 11-0 (9 KOs).

Since his previous fight, Nikita had surgery on his left hand, married his girlfriend – her name is also Nikita – and welcomed his first child, a daughter named Curiosity.

Unlike his older brother, Nikita Tszyu is a southpaw. Personality-wise, they are different cats. Tim Tszyu enjoys restoring classic cars. Nikita’s hobby is gardening. Tim’s idea of a vacation is a five-star hotel. Nikita’s preference would be a cabin in the wilderness. Tim is “normal” whereas Nikita is eccentric. In a recent story in the Sydney Morning Herald, it was revealed that Nikita and his newborn daughter share her mother’s breast milk and that Nikita had his wife’s placenta converted to freeze-dried capsules taken as a nutritional supplement.

Nikita was a four-time amateur champion but had less passion for the sport than his older brother, or so it was postulated when he stepped away from boxing for five years to pursue a college degree in architecture. He assuaged those concerns with passionate efforts against Jack Brubaker, Dylan Biggs, and Koen Mazoudier – he had anxious moments in all three fights – but those guys were hardly a murderers’ row and the quality of his opposition has actually declined. Lulzim Ismaili was undefeated (12-0) but his record was a charade. He had never gone more than six rounds while defeating only two opponents with winning records, a near-novice and an obscure 43-year-old German.

Perhaps Nikita Tszyu’s management, the Rose brothers (No Limit Boxing), can be forgiven for matching Nikita so soft considering the hand injury that disrupted his training regimen, but it’s past time for him to step-up in class. That may come in his next fight. A match between him and countryman Michael Zerafa (35-5, 21 KOs) has been brewing, and although Zerafa was knocked out in two rounds by Erislandy Lara, it would be an intriguing match.

Zerafa appeared in the semi-wind-up on Wednesday’s card, stopping Chicago-area journeyman Mikey Dahlman in 122 seconds. To prep for this assignment, the overmatched Dahlman padded his record with six wins in Colombia.

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Less than two full years have passed since this reporter wrote a TSS story titled “The Australia Boxing Renaissance.”

When the piece was published (Oct. 3, 2023), Tim Tszyu was undefeated (23-0, 17 KOs) and owned the WBO junior middleweight title, and while it was true that Tszyu didn’t win that title in the ring – it had been stripped from Jermell Charlo — Tsyzu would have been favored over anyone at 154 pounds.

He was one of three reigning Aussie title-holders, the others being cruiserweight Jai Opetaia and WBO bantamweight champion Jason Moloney. The story also made mention of Sam Goodman, then ranked #1 at 122, up-and comers Nikita Tszyu and Justis Huni, both 7-0, and IBF female bantamweight title-holder Ebanie Bridges who was shrewdly “building her brand” with alluring photo-ops at weigh-ins.

My how things have changed.

Tim Tszyu cratered. His defeat to Sebastian Fundora in their first encounter could be written off as a fluke, but his setback to Bakhram Murtazaliev and to Fundora in their rematch were so brutally one-sided that he is accorded scant chance of ever regaining his lost luster. Jason Moloney lost his title to Yoshiki Takei and then lost a 10-round decision to Tenshin Nasukawa, boxers with 13 wins between them. Ebanie Bridges lost her title to Miyo Yoshida in San Francisco in one of the biggest upsets of 2023 and then left the sport, at least temporarily, when she became pregnant with hubby Kell Brook (their son was born in March).

Sam Goodman is no longer undefeated, nor is Justis Huni. Goodman moved up in weight and came up short in a bid for Nick Ball’s featherweight title. Huni gave hometown favorite Fabio Wardley a world of trouble in their crossroads fight but then forgot to duck and was knocked out in the 10^th round.

Misfortune has struck other prominent Australian boxers not mentioned in the story. Skye Nicolson lost her WBC featherweight title and her undefeated record when she was upset by the late-blooming American Tiara Brown. (Nicolson will be back in action on Saturday. She opposes an obscure fighter from India at an 1100-seat concert hall in Brisbane.) Liam Paro did Australia proud when he dethroned IBF 140-pound champion Subriel Matias in Puerto Rico, but then lost the belt to Richardson Hitchins in his first defense.

Jai Opetaia remains undefeated and is recognized as the best cruiserweight in the world, but it’s worth noting that he competes in a weak division as reflected in his opponents since winning the title, a mediocre lot aside from Mairis Briedis. At the moment, the most decorated Australian boxer is New Zealand transplant Cherneka Johnson (18-2, 8 KOs) who holds three pieces of the female bantamweight title.

Things go in cycles and perhaps the newest generation of Australian boxers will spark a second renaissance, one that will prove more long-lasting. Heavyweight Teremoana Teremoana (8-0, 8 KOs) and junior welterweight Harry Garside (4-0, 3 KOs) are considered the leading hopefuls. Both are former Olympians. Garside appeared in both the Tokyo and Paris Games.

The six-foot six Teremoana, who was showcased on a card at Madison Square Garden in June, at which he scored his fifth straight first-round knockout, has been anointed a future champion by his promoter Eddie Hearn. The quirky Garside, as comfortable in a ballet class as in a boxing gym, has already developed a cult following, abetted by his memoir, described in the press blurb as a refreshing perspective on masculinity in which the author shares “moments of profound self-discovery.”

Stay tuned.

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