Tszyu on mission to cash in
AFTER securing an undisputed title fight against Jermell Charlo in Las Vegas, Tim Tszyu has turned his attention to becoming one of Australia’s highest paid athletes in 2023.
The 27-year-old boxing star will earn a minimum $2 million for the bout on January 28, but if he defeats Charlo and takes all four major belts, Tszyu is expected to enter the $10 million-perfight category.
“I’ve always dreamt about that, this is where I want be and that’s the type of money I want to be making,” Tszyu said. “That’s the level I want to be at. This is what I have to do to be there.”
Tszyu was ranked 13th in News Corp Australia’s sport rich list at the start of this year, with Ben Simmons ($45.36 million), Daniel Ricciardo ($35 million) and Joe Ingles ($17.1 million) taking out the top three spots.
After making the Wimbledon final, tennis bad boy Nick Kyrgios is expected to push for a top-three place this year.
Tszyu’s promoter George Rose of No Limit Boxing said his prize fighter would be challenging them all by the end of next year.
“He’s already in the top 15 highest paid Australian athletes now, the wait leading up to this fight against Charlo might push him out of that for the next little period but once he becomes the undisputed world champion, he’d heading towards the top of that list,” Rose said.
“Boxing is the sport that generates the big money, it always has. You look at Floyd Mayweather, he sat at the top of the list of highest paid athlete in the world, Canelo Alvarez, all of the active bigtime boxers are the guys who sit at the top of the list.
“That’s going to be the same for Tim Tszyu. He likes to fight four times a year, you do the math. If you’re fighting four times a year and you’re the highest paid guy in the super-welterweight division, the chips are going to stack up.”
Tszyu’s legendary father Kostya became a multi-millionaire through his boxing exploits, unifying the lightwelterweight division 21 years ago, but his eldest son his not getting carried away by his own chance to make history.
Tim Tszyu is one of a handful of boxers who fights for the undisputed championship in his very first world title fight, and he’ll do it in a city, on the same date 28 years to the day, that his father won his very first world title – Kostya defeated Jake Rodriguez on January 28, 1995 to win the IBF light-welterweight title at the MGM Grand.
“I got a message from coach Igor [Goloubev], January 28, dad won his first title. I was like, ‘wow, how crazy is that’. And to be doing it in Vegas as well, it’s even more special,” Tszyu said.
“It would be like de ja vu. “But I’m not even close yet to what dad did. I was having a look at his record, he had 13 title defences, he beat 13 of the best out there, in a row.”
No Limit is negotiating to hold the title fight at the MGM Grand to emulate Kostya’s feat from 1995, and also his famous unification victory against Zab Judah at the same venue in 2001.
Tszyu is the WBO’S No.1 mandatory challenger, and also rated No.2 in the WBC and No.3 in the IBF. His record is 21-0 (15KO).