Tszyu hopes you laugh at outrageous fight claim

2 years ago 103

When Tim Tszyu revealed his lofty ambitions this week to 1 time go heavyweight champion of the world, immoderate took it with a atom of salt.

"It's nary joke," Tszyu told The Sydney Morning Herald. "Roy Jones went from middleweight to heavyweight; super-welterweight to heavyweight hasn't been done.

"That's my all-time extremity … That's 10 years successful the making."

Roy Jones Jr became the archetypal erstwhile middleweight champion successful implicit 100 years to triumph a heavyweight title, defeating John Ruiz for the WBA loop via unanimous determination successful 2003.

The boxing icon held the rubric but did not situation for the heavyweight championship, with Lennox Lewis inactive considered the lineal and WBC heavyweight champion of the time.

However, the Florida-born legend's ascent to the heaviest part didn't travel arsenic a full shock, it was a earthy progression sparked by his grounds occurrence successful the ring.

In 1998, Jones Jr was scheduled to combat erstwhile heavyweight champion James 'Buster' Douglas, the antheral who shocked the satellite with his 42-1 upset triumph implicit heavyweight champ Mike Tyson 8 years prior. However, his father, Roy Jones Sr, convinced his lad to propulsion out, citing the hazard of specified an endeavour astatine that constituent of his career.

After holding the middleweight and ace middleweight titles, Jones decided to enactment enactment astatine airy heavyweight, pulling disconnected eleven defences of his unified rubric implicit a five-year period, earlier yet taking a changeable astatine Ruiz's WBA strap.

With 100 days to spell earlier Tszyu's accidental astatine becoming conscionable the ninth undisputed champion successful the four-belt epoch against champion Jermell Charlo successful Las Vegas, the undefeated Sydney combatant understands his 10-year program to go the archetypal to triumph titles from ace welterweight to heavyweight, tin lone beryllium fast-tracked if helium takes Charlo's IBF, WBC, WBA and WBO super-welterweight straps connected January 29.

Tszyu presently fights astatine the super-welterweight bounds of 69.85kg, and would request to determination up much than 20kg successful value implicit a 10-year play to prosecute his goal.

While immoderate whitethorn uncertainty Tszyu's semipermanent vision, it's not arsenic unrealistic arsenic you whitethorn think.

Over the people of 10 years, there's each accidental Tszyu volition turn into his assemblage more, making it adjacent harder to chopped weight.

But to situation for belts successful higher value divisions, winning indispensable beryllium a cardinal ingredient. If Tszyu beats Charlo and proves helium tin support the belts, past his lawsuit to determination up cannot beryllium denied.

"Setting goals that radical laughter at, that's the happening you've gotta have," Tszyu told Wide World of Sports.

"That extremity end to support pushing yourself is what I need. My main absorption close present is Charlo and undisputed title we tin deliberation astir that aboriginal on."

Tszyu has often spoken of the arduous quality of cutting value and the interaction it has connected his assemblage and caput up of fights. But the WBO's No.1 contender says determination are different factors astatine play.

"It truly depends connected the fights arsenic well. I request fights that volition springiness maine that vibe, that buzz," helium added.

"A combat that volition get maine up successful the morning. There's a fewer fights successful the ace welterweight division, we'll see.

"But you cognize there's large fights astatine middleweight, Triple-G(Gennady Golovkin) for example, and past there's Canelo (Alvarez) astatine ace middleweight, truthful there's large fights everywhere. They are the benignant of fights that I volition look astatine yet aft this fight.

"It's 1 happening getting to the apical and being undisputed it's different happening staying up determination and defending it and taking it to that adjacent level. Charlo conscionable won each his belts and I'm the archetypal 1 successful enactment to instrumentality them all."

The 21-0 prima has already held a grooming campy successful Phuket, Thailand, sweating up a tempest alongside MMA fighters Darren Till and Petr Yan, and volition marque his 2nd travel to "the jungle" successful the coming weeks.

Tszyu volition past springiness himself plentifulness of clip to acclimatise to the US conditions erstwhile helium travels to Los Angeles successful precocious November for much training, earlier moving to Las Vegas 5 oregon truthful weeks retired from the biggest combat of his life.

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