‘He’s that guy’: Alex Volkanovski comes out swinging in support of Tim Tszyu

Alex Volkanovski has launched a passionate defence of Tim Tszyu after the Aussie boxer’s shattering defeat to Bakhram Murtazaliev, hitting back at the armchair critics.

Alex Volkanovski has launched a passionate defence of Tim Tszyu after the Aussie boxer’s shattering defeat to Bakhram Murtazaliev last weekend.

As the fallout continues from Tszyu’s surprise third round knockout loss, Volkanovski hit back at the armchair critics and said Tszyu will return to the top of the sport.

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“People are going to sit there and say, ‘Why did you do this? Why did you do that?’ – as in challenging himself,” Volkanovski told this masthead in Abu Dhabi ahead of UFC 308 this weekend.

“But he’s that guy. He’s the guy that challenges himself every day, and that’s why he’s successful.

“That’s why he’ll come back as well, because he’s not afraid of challenging himself – he does it every single day.

“People look, and when things don’t go your way, and you don’t get the result, all of a sudden it’s the worst thing.

“But if he lived by that, he wouldn’t be where he is.”

Tim Tszyu was stunned by Bakhram Murtazaliev. Picture: Paul Hennessy/Anadolu via Getty Images

Volkanovski is speaking from experience.

A year ago – almost to the day – he stepped in on late notice to rematch lightweight champion Islam Makhachev in Abu Dhabi.

His bold attempt at winning a title in a second weight class came undone when Makhachev stopped him in the first round.

His comeback fight against Ilia Topuria ended in similarly shocking fashion to Tszyu’s surprise defeat to Murtazaliev.

Many of the criticisms now being levelled at Tszyu were thrown at Volkanovski too.

“You can always do things better, but that guy who turned up and took on that challenge is the guy that turns up in the gym every single time,” he said.

Volkanovski risked it all by going up to fight lightweight champion Islam Makhachev on short notice. Picture: Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images

“No matter who’s there in front of him. No matter how big the person he’s grappling. No matter how deep the submission is. No matter how tired he is.

“That guy ain’t gonna shy away from the challenge and just give up. He’s gonna take it on full steam ahead.

“And I respect that. Maybe, they could have been a bit smarter with how they did it, but I wish nothing but the best for him.

“He’s a good dude, a great fighter, he’s still young and he’ll be back.”

Volkanovski hasn’t fought since his defeat to Topuria in February, but is eyeing up a return at UFC 312 in front of his hometown fans in Sydney in February.

Volkanovski wants revenge on Ilia Topuria too. Picture: Hans Gutknecht/MediaNews Group/Los Angeles Daily News via Getty Images

Taking on the winner of this weekend’s main event is a possible scenario, but questions remain over whether Holloway will stay at featherweight, and whether Topuria will fight in Sydney.

“I definitely want to fight the winner of this weekend’s main event,” Volkanovski said. “But if Max wins, does he go back up to lightweight?

“If that happens, it might open the door for an interim title fight against someone like Diego Lopes – that makes sense.

“If Ilia wins, then I’ll be fighting him next, but I just can’t guarantee you it’ll be in Sydney.

“It’s not that he’s scared, it’s that he’s the champ – he’s the A-side. I never cared about that when I was champ – it was just wherever the bigger fight was. That’s how I looked at it.

“But I’ll fight him anywhere, and hopefully it’ll be soon.”

Originally published as ‘He’s that guy’: Alex Volkanovski comes out swinging in support of Tim Tszyu