Tim Tszyu called the American experience “unreal” after his U.S. debut against Terrell Gausha, although the hometown scorecard was anything but.
The Australian may have been knocked down in the opening round but was otherwise dominant in a unanimous decision win (116-111, 115-111, 114-113).
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That final scoreline — 114-113 — drew ire from the boxing world though, with several experts questioning how judge Robert Hecko deemed the fight to be so close.
“The 114-113 was a bit close for me,” former Australian three-time world champion Jeff Fenech said on Main Event’s coverage.
And you could tell Fenech was holding back, having warned foxsports.com.au earlier in the week that Tszyu needed to knock out Gausha or risk being robbed by the judges.
“Tim has to knock him out there because I don’t trust the judges,” Fenech said.
“I’ve been through it there and I honestly believe Tim has to knock this guy out.”
Plenty of boxing pundits joined Fenech in calling out Hecko’s judging, with prominent journalist Dan Rafael calling it “absurd”.
Tszyu said post-fight that he will head home to Australia before setting up camp again in America, although he got a taste on Sunday about the risks involved with that move.
“It was dope. This whole arena was sold out,” he said.
“It was first show, I’m not even recognised here yet, I haven’t won a world title for god’s sake. It’s pretty crazy. It was unreal, it is a special moment in my life and career. I’m pretty keen on this whole American thing.”
As for the fight itself, Gausha was considered to be Tszyu’s greatest test yet but the Australian thinks he offered the American something he had never seen before in the ring.
“I beat one hell of an opponent and if you ask him, I reckon I gave him the toughest fight out of everyone,” Tszyu said.
“To see his face, the way he was breathing and the body shots, the way he was gassing. I gave him one hell of a fight. He was one tough son of a b****.”
