Home Boxing News Liam Smith willing to travel Down Under for shot at Tim Tszyu

Liam Smith willing to travel Down Under for shot at Tim Tszyu

British junior middleweight Liam ‘Beefy’ Smith 29-3-1 (16) is ready, willing and able to face Tim ‘The Soul Taker’ Tszyu 19-0 (15) in Australia if the money is right.

The 26-year-old Tszyu from Sydney mentioned former WBO champion Smith, 32, of Liverpool, as a future opponent following his third-round knockout win over Stevie Spark 12-2 (11) at the Newcastle Entertainment Centre in Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia on July 7.

Toowoomba’s Spark was a late replacement for Melburnian Michael Zerafa 28-4 (17) who withdrew from the bout one week before the fight over concerns his camp would have to spend two weeks in quarantine upon their return to Melbourne following an outbreak of the Delta variant of Covid-19 in New South Wales.

Zerafa, 29, was intended to be the last domestic opponent Tszyu faced before taking on international competition.

Smith, who lost a disputed 12-round decision to Magomed Kurbanov 22-0 (13) in Russia in May, was quick to respond when he heard his name in the conversation after Tszyu’s latest win.

“My management team are discussing it now and I’ll leave it to them and whoever else and if there’s a deal there to be made, I’m sure it will be made,” Smith told Boxing Social.

“From my point of view, I think no questions would be asked of whether I would fight him or whether I’d come to Australia to fight him. I’d fight him tomorrow. I’d fly to Australia tomorrow as long as the deal was right.”

British boxing Twitter lit up last week after Tszyu dropped his name.

“Whether it was to do with the mention of me, whether it was people saying ‘take the fight pussy’ it’s like how could that be mentioned towards myself?” Smith said.

“Would I go to Australia? Of course I would. I’ve been to Russia, Mexico, the States. Put a fight to me that makes sense for me, I’ll go and that’s exactly the same with Tim Tszyu.

“Tim Tszyu is no-one different… he’s no-one I fear, no-one I’m scared of so if it makes sense for me, I’ll be on the night flight there.”

Tszyu is the number one contender to current WBO champion Brian Castano 17-0-1 (12) who is set to face WBC, WBA and IBF champion Jermell Charlo 34-1 (18) in a rare four-belt unification bout at AT&T Centre in San Antonio, Texas on Saturday night.

Team Tszyu 2.0 believe they need a bridging fight against a former world titleholder before going after the winner of that bout.

Smith sees himself as the right test at the right time for the eldest son of International Boxing Hall of Famer Kostya Tszyu.

“I think he’s developing very, very well and I think he will develop to be a good fighter and I’ve said that on record,” Smith said.

“I think they’ve matched him perfectly and his career’s gone (up) and his opposition’s gone the same way. With that being said, who’s his best win? Dennis Hogan was probably his best win and by all accounts it sounds like Dennis Hogan might retire after this.

“A fight with the ones mentioned will answer a lot of questions of Tim Tszyu’s path. If he beats me, you’ll say is ready for it. If he doesn’t beat me he’s not ready. I think he will end up a good fighter.

“I do think now, put somebody okay in front of him, he’s shown he’s not hard to hit, I think you’ll get a few different answers on Tim Tszyu.”