Nikita Tszyu To Turn Pro Atop March 2 Fox Sports Australia Card in Brisbane
The youngest of the Tszyu boxing family is set to embark on his pro journey.
Nikita Tszyu will make his pro debut in grand fashion, headlining a March 2 Fox Sports Australia show live from Brisbane Convention Centre in Brisbane, Australia. The event was formally announced Wednesday (local time), along with a lineup that includes former title challenger Dennis Hogan and Wade Ryan in a billed IBO junior middleweight title eliminator.
For his part, Tszyu will face countryman Aaron Stahl (2-0-1, 0KOs) in a scheduled six-round junior middleweight contest.
“We’ve got so much talent in Australian boxing,” George Rose, Tszyu’s promoter and head of No Limit Boxing stated during the press conference.
“The highlight for me is Nikita making his pro debut. It’s a really exciting opportunity. I’ve seen Nikita training in the gym. I think he’s going to be a special fighter.”
Tszyu has big shoes to fill, though able to observe from afar as older brother and current unbeaten junior middleweight contender Tim Tszyu (20-0, 15KOs) has spent the entirety of his pro career to dare under a microscope. It comes with being the son of a Hall of Famer, as their father Kostya is a former lineal junior welterweight champion.
Tim Tszyu has so far thrived under pressure. The time has now come for Nikita, 24, to show what he can do as a pro. For now, the plan is to just soak in as much advice as possible from his fighting family, especially his father who remains boxing royalty in Australia.
“He was telling me to be ready for all of the hard work and determination,” Tszyu said of his father’s advice upon deciding to turn pro. “If you’re going to do this, you have to do this 100%. You have to give this everything you possibly can. That is how I was brought up.”
The announcement after having previously taken off the gloves in pursuit of a college degree in architecture. The youngest Tszyu accomplished that goal—along with living it up—but has since decided to join his older brother in furthering their family brand.
The only thing that Nikita asks is to not be compared to—or expect the same brand of entertainment as—his brother in the ring.
“Some people, they describe my brother more as a surgeon. For me, they’d describe me as a butcher,” confesses Tszyu. “We do the same job but do things in a different way.
“I’m a little more messy in that sense.”
The March 2 show is the second for Hogan since his knockout loss to Tim Tszyu last March in Newcastle, Australia. Another former Tim Tszyu victim, Steve Spark (12-2, 11KOs) also makes his way to the undercard in a scheduled eight-round junior welterweight bout versus Melbourne’s River Daz (3-0-1, 1KO). Spark suffered a third-round knockout to Tszyu last July, moving up two weight divisions as a late replacement for Michael Zerafa.
The other announced bout is a rematch between Philippines’ Joe Noynay (19-2-2, 8KOs) and Caboolture’s Liam Wilson (9-1, 6KOs) for a regional junior lightweight title. Their first fight took place on the Tszyu-Spark undercard, with Noynay scoring four knockdowns en route to a fifth-round knockout of then-unbeaten Wilson in a massive upset.
All four bouts will air live on Fox Sports Australia, in lieu of going the Pay-Per-View route as is normally the case in Australia.
“It’s definitely worthy of a pay-per-view. I think this is the best card assembled in the history of Fox Sports,” insists Rose. “I’ve never seen a lineup like this. We want to put together these fantastic cards for everyone to enjoy.”
