The $50,000 shock that proves Tim Tszyu’s toughness - but questions need to be answered

Tim Tszyu was battered, bruised, and getting badly beaten when his corner ended his world title match with Sebastian Fundora. It doesn’t make him a quitter, but there’s serious questions his team must face with his career on the line.

The sun was coming up when Tim Tszyu got back to his apartment at the Caribe Royale resort in Orlando last year, after he was finally released from hospital.

He’d spent four hours there after being dropped four times and stopped by Bakhram Murtazaliev.

He was in a bad way, but worse was to come in the form of a massive hospital bill.

“I had some scans and little checks,” Tszyu told Code Sports. “I got out of there at like 4am, and it cost $50,000 – US!

“I think PBC (promoter Premier Boxing Champions) officials paid for it, but I’d have been ready to throw hands if I got presented with that bill.”

The Murtazaliev loss and that big-money bill are all the evidence you need to disprove the wild claims being thrown around that Tszyu is a quitter or has no heart.

READ MORE: Retirement, drastic change: Why everything is on the table for Tszyu

Sebastian Fundora uses his enormous reach to hit Tim Tszyu. Picture: AFP

Some commentators have compared his loss to Sebastian Fundora this weekend to Roberto Duran’s ‘No Mas’ defeat to Sugar Ray Leonard.

Please.

Duran wasn’t getting badly beaten. He was only down by one round on one card and by two rounds on two others when Leonard began showboating and taunting him in the seventh and eighth.

Just five months earlier, Duran had won their first fight by unanimous decision after winning a brawl when Leonard tried to go toe-to-toe with him.

He celebrated with a months-long bender and was seriously under prepared for the rematch. His pride couldn’t handle Leonard’s taunting in the rematch.

Roberto Duran, the man behind the infamous ‘No Mas’ defeat to Sugar Ray Leonard.

The ‘No Mas’ – No More – finish was a rugged brawler embarrassed by a more skilful fighter who was showboating and carrying on.

Tsyzu sitting on his stool at the MGM Grand doesn’t even compare.

And that’s where the impact of that $50,000 hospital bill comes in.

Tszyu’s concussion was so bad after the Murtazaliev fight that he spent much of the flight back home to Australia vomiting.

He cemented his legacy as a warrior that night by repeatedly getting back up off the canvas. He fell four times and got up four times. He was trying to fight back when younger brother Nikita threw in the towel.

Tim Tszyu leaves the ring after his loss to Sebastian Fundora. Picture: Getty Images

But there’s no telling how much the punishment he took in that fight – and in his first war with Fundora – took out of him.

The rematch with Fundora was heading in the same direction.

Tszyu had some good moments in the seventh round, but that frame ended with The Towering Inferno pummelling him in the corner.

Another round would only have invited more damage. And it could have been career, or even life, threatening.

There might have been another sizeable hospital bill too.

Tim Tszyu lands a shot on Sebastian Fundora. Picture: AP Photo

There’s no shame in pulling the pin when the cause is hopeless. That’s sport.

It doesn’t make Tszyu a quitter.

He swung until the bitter end, unlike Duran.

Tszyu’s wider team has questions to answer though.

From the decision to fight Fundora on short notice, to not stopping the first fight when he was cut, then overlooking the underrated Murtazaliev last year.

Hindsight is 20-20, and in isolation, those calls can be forgiven. Taken as a collective though, and it leaves Tszyu’s future hanging in the balance.

The Soul Taker drove from Vegas to Los Angeles on Monday morning (US time) and is scheduled to travel back to Australia later in the week.

He may not be at the elite level in a deep division. And he may have some technical flaws. But he isn’t a quitter.

Originally published as The $50,000 shock that proves Tim Tszyu’s toughness - but questions need to be answered