Former WBO junior middleweight champion Tim Tszyu reportedly has been forced to withdraw from his scheduled fight against Vergil Ortiz Jr. on August 3rd, Terence Crawford vs. Israil Madrimov card in Los Angeles.
According to Dan Rafael, Tszyu (24-1, 17 KOs) had to pull out because his scalp cut still hasn’t healed from the injury he sustained in his 12-round split decision loss to Sebastian Fundora on March 30th.
Impact on the Fight Card
Tszyu, 29, vs. Ortiz, had been one of the interesting fights on His Excellency Turki Alalshikh’s card on August 3rd in Los Angeles. But in hindsight, it was too early to bring Tszyu back after that bad cut.
This is bad for boxing fans because they wanted to see the knockout artist Ortiz Jr. (21-0, 21 KO) and Tszyu square off to see the two go to war. It’s unclear whether Ortiz will remain on the card. It’s early enough for His Excellency to find a replacement opponent for Ortiz Jr. to fight. Someone like Brian Mendoza would be an ideal.
Implications for Tszyu’s Career
For Tszyu, it might be a good thing that he’s off the card because the way he looked in his loss to Fundora, he might be out of his league going against Vergil Ortiz Jr. A second loss for Tszyu would be a career-killer, putting him in a tough spot where it would be near impossible for him to climb back to where he was before.
Some fans would argue that Tszyu’s training team should have pulled him out of his fight with Fundora after the cut opened because it wiuld have been better for the fight to be halted due to the injury rather than him going the full 12 rounds, fighting with blood leaking into his eyes.
Fans just see the fact that Tszyu lost and discredit him. They don’t factor in that Tszyu was fighting with a cut, and only partial visibility against the tall 6’5 1/2″ high volume puncher Fundora.
“Per source, Tim Tszyu has been forced to withdraw from his Aug. 3 fight vs. Vergil Ortiz Jr. on the Crawford-Madrimov mega-card being put on by Turki Alalshikh in LA. Doc ruled him out due to terrible cut suffered vs. Fundora not being healed enough for him to fight,” said Dan Rafael on X.
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