Tim Tszyu set for Australian homecoming in December with world title win over Bakhram Murtazaliev

Tim Tszyu can lock in a blockbuster stadium homecoming in Australia in December with a devastating world title win over Bakhram Murtazaliev this weekend.

Tim Tszyu can lock in a blockbuster stadium homecoming in Australia in December with a devastating world title win over Bakhram Murtazaliev this weekend.

This masthead can reveal Tszyu’s promoters, No Limit, are working towards having Tszyu make a quick turn around to fight on home soil, with December 29 targeted as the ideal date.

“If Tim can win the world title this weekend, we’re definitely looking for a big Australian homecoming before the end of the year,” No Limit boss Matt Rose told this masthead.

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“Ideally, Timmy gets the job done, he’s the world champion, and returns home to huge fanfare and an Australian fight as a world champion.

“If Tim does what I think he’ll do this weekend – and I think he’ll destroy Bakhram – then we’ll take the IBF belt and we’ll look for a defence at the end of the year.”

Tszyu’s Australian summer homecoming will likely be a stadium event, and could take place in a city he’s never starred in before.

Tim Tszyu could lock in an Australian stadium blockbuster if he wins the world title. Picture: Getty Images

“The four locations we’ll look at are Perth, Adelaide, Sydney and the Gold Coast,” Rose said. “We haven’t done Perth or Adelaide yet.

“We’re keen to talk to everyone, and who’s not going to be keen on a Timmy Tszyu world title fight?

“Christmas comes, then it’s the biggest boxing event of the year in terms of Tim Tszyu and the world title.

“It doesn’t get any better to finish the year.

“First, he’s gotta win on Saturday night, but that’s the plan at this stage.”

Top 15 fighters Erickson Lubin and Jesus Ramos loom as likely opponents, with Tszyu’s manager Glen Jennings saying it could be the last time ‘The Soul Taker’ ever fights in Australia.

“I just think that’s brilliant for Australia to get that one last chance to possibly see Tim Tszyu fighting back at home in a big stadium and a sell out at the end of the year, too,” he told this masthead.

“There’s not a lot that goes on in that period.

“I think Tim’s at that superstar level in Australia now, wherever he goes there’s going to be a sell out, so I’m excited for Tim to have potentially one last fight in Australia.”

The fight would be a voluntary defence of the IBF title, before Tszyu looks ahead to unification bouts and a revenge mission against Sebastian Fundora.

“Well we definitely want that re-match with Fundora if he still holds the belts,” Jennings said. “He is on our list, but only if it’s meaningful.

“If he loses the belts, there won’t be a re-match.

“Lubin wouldn’t bring a lot to the table in terms of belts, but he is a very credible name and a very credible fighter.

“But there’s a number of fighters on the cards as potential opponents.”

First though, he needs to put on a statement performance against Murtazaliev this weekend.

“This is the fight to prove it as well,” Tszyu said after Thursday’s press conference. “Stylistically, I’ve got a really good opponent in front of me.

“He’s tough and gritty, but I can really show off what I’m made of.”

Originally published as Tim Tszyu set for Australian homecoming in December with world title win over Bakhram Murtazaliev