Boxing: Tim Tszyu ‘filthy’ that doctors force him to cancel August showdown against Vergil Ortiz

After his loss to Sebastian Fundora in Las Vegas on March 31, Tim Tszyu’s camp receives another blow regarding his next fight and the Australian star is none too happy about it. BRENDAN BRADFORD reports.

Tim Tszyu’s August fight has been cancelled. Picture: Bradley Kanaris/Getty Images

Tim Tszyu is “filthy and hurting” after doctors forced him to pull out of his August 3 return against Vergil Ortiz.

Tszyu’s medical team ruled the cut he picked up against Sebastian Fundora in March hadn’t healed as well as expected, and banned him from sparring until late July.

With a tough fight against a proven knockout artist in Ortiz, there simply wasn’t enough time for Tszyu to get quality sparring rounds in before the fight.

“The reality is you can’t compete at this level unless you’re 100% right, and that decision was taken out of his hands,” Tszyu’s manager, Glen Jennings, told this masthead.

“When it comes to this absolute elite level and you’ve got a guy like Vergil Ortiz, there’s no room in that ring if you’re not 100% right. You’ll get found out.

“It’s a savage wound, all the way down to the skull, and it’s a target. If it opens up again, we just can’t have that.”

Tszyu had just returned from a conditioning training camp with his dad Kostya in Thailand, and was in peak physical condition when the ruling was made this week.

Team Tszyu is “in limbo” with a decision on his return date not expected for several weeks.

“Everything was tracking fine from his pre-camp with Kostya, but on return, he was told he wouldn’t be able to have any full contact sparring for over a month,” No Limit’s Matt Rose told this masthead.

“It’s a huge letdown, but I still expect him to come back flying from this.”

Tszyu battling away in his loss to Fundora in March. Picture: Tayfun Coskun/Anadolu via Getty Images

It was left to Jennings to break the news to Tszyu.

“Tim’s reaction was exactly what you’d expect,” Jennings said. “He was pretty filthy. He’s a fighter and he’s hurting.

“He’ll have the shits and might not talk to anyone for a week.

“He was a machine too. He’s been in Thailand and came home and was ready to get into sparring, then, ‘boom’.”

Speaking on Friday, Team Tszyu said it was too soon to begin making other plans, and likely won’t be in a position to announce a return date until the wound is fully healed.

The best case scenario is that the wound will be ready for sparring in another month, meaning he could return in September or October.

It’s doubtful a Tszyu-Ortiz match will be postponed, with the American Ortiz likely to stay on the August 3 card. Interim WBC champion Serhii Bohachuk – who fought former Tszyu opponent Brian Mendoza on the Tszyu-Fundora undercard in Las Vegas – has emerged as a possible replacement.

It’s the latest in a number of setbacks after Tszyu lost his WBO world title to ‘The Towering Inferno’ Fundora after copping an elbow to the head in the second round.

The cut virtually blinded Tszyu in one eye as he dropped a bloody split decision, and later needed 12 stitches at the venue.

Believing Fundora would be out of action until 2025 due to the injuries he sustained against Tszyu, the Aussie’s camp booked the dangerous fight against Ortiz for August.

Tszyu and Ortiz had been scheduled to fight for the WBA interim super-welterweight world title on one of the best boxing cards of the year.

In the main event, Terence Crawford will make his super-welterweight debut with a WBA and WBO interim world title fight opposite Israil Madrimov.

Meanwhile, Fundora returned earlier than expected, and will defend his world title against Errol Spence in October.

Originally published as Boxing: Tim Tszyu ‘filthy’ that doctors force him to cancel August showdown against Vergil Ortiz