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By David A. Avila
Australia’s Tim Tszyu was welcomed to America by a quick knockdown from Terrell Gausha but survived to win a convincing super welterweight fight by unanimous decision on Saturday in Minnesota.
It was an impressive debut for the son of boxing legend Kostya Tsyzu.
Tszyu (21-0, 15 KOs) remained undefeated and showed Cleveland’s Gausha (22-3-1, 11 KOs) just why he was brought to American shores with a strong performance in front of an awestruck crowd at Minneapolis, Minn.
It didn’t look good for the Aussie in the first round.
Gausha ambushed Tszyu with a short counter-right that dropped the Aussie slugger to the mat for only the second time in his career. He shot a look at Gausha and immediately got up before the referee could being to count.
“It was right on right. Perfect timing,” said Tszyu, 27, of the punch that floored him in the opening round.
Gausha felt he could end the fight.
“I felt I had him in trouble,” Gausha said of the knockdown. “But he’s a tough, tough f……g fighter.”
Probably unfamiliar with the American style of fighting that former Olympian Gausha possesses, Tszyu took note and began attacking the body. It quickly began to open up holes.
Gausha has fought numerous champions and trains with Manny Robles in Los Angeles, so he’s accustomed to trading blows with big sluggers with power. He kept finding targets for his counters, but nothing more seemed to seriously hurt Tszyu.
Strength and power were always trademarks for the father Kostya during the 90s and early 2000s, and it looks to be the same for Tim Tszyu who was caught repeatedly by counters but never close to being hurt or going down.
Tszyu attacked the body repeatedly with impunity but just when it looked like Gausha seemed about to be overwhelmed, he rallied with pinpoint counters and head snapping jabs. Gausha was not going away for anyone.
Still Tszyu could not be denied and his strength played a big part in remaining the aggressor especially with the body shots and uppercuts. After 12 rounds all three judges saw the fight in favor of Tszyu 114-113, 116-111, 115-112.
Both fighters were cheered loudly by appreciative fans.
“It was good that I faced adversity for the first time,” said Tszyu after the fight. “I was just enjoying myself.”
Other Fights
Michel Rivera (23-0), the Muhammad Ali look-alike, used his Ali jabs and combinations to win by unanimous decision over Joseph Adorno (14-1-2) in a 10-round lightweight bout. No knockdowns were scored and Dominican Republic’s Rivera used his longer reach and repeated jabs to get the win.
Elvis Rodriguez (13-1-1, 12 KOs) won by knockout in the seventh round of the super lightweight match with Juan Velasco (23-3).
Photo credit: Esther Lin / SHOWTIME