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Nikita Tszyu in extraordinary championship drama amid brutal setback

The Aussie overcame early adversity to stop Dylan Biggs in the fifth round to claim the Australian super-welterweight title.

ben talintyre
Sports Reporter
·4-min read
Pictured Nikita Tszyu left and right with his brother Tim
Nikita Tszyu is the new Australian super welterweight champion after defeating the experienced Dylan Biggs in Newcastle. Image: AAP

Nikita Tszyu overcame an early knockdown and plenty of adversity to capture the super-welterweight title in his fight against the experienced Dylan Biggs in Newcastle. Tszyu came back from being knocked to the canvas in the opening 45 seconds to stop Biggs with a devastating body shot in the fifth round on Wednesday night.

After a heated build-up, the much-anticipated showdown at the Newcastle Entertainment Centre lived up to its billing as the domestic fight of the year when Tszyu was knocked down after being clipped with two heavy rights. After being outboxed and outmuscled in the opening round, Tszyu regathered himself and began investing in the body before putting it on Biggs as he gained confidence.

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'The Butcher' relentlessly pressured Biggs in the fourth round, swarming his foe, attacking the head and body. Biggs just managed to survive the round before the referee stopped the fight late in the fifth after Tszyu landed a shot to Biggs' liver, as his team prepared to throw in the towel.

The comeback victory extends Tszyu's record to 8-0, six of which have come via knockout. In doing so he managed to silence the critics who believed Biggs would bring the youngest Tszyu down to earth. Two-time world champion Shawn Porter, pre-fight suggested the 25-year-old had been dining out on the most famous family name in Australian boxing and was about to receive a reality check.

Pictured Nikita Tszyu
The comeback victory extended Tszyu's record to 8-0, six of which have come via knockout and in doing so managed to silence the critics who believed Biggs would bring the youngest Tszyu down to earth. Image: Getty

Tszyu's legendary father Kostya carved out an 18-0 record on home turf and his now-world champion brother Tim is 22-0 in Australia. "He's not as good as his name," two-time world champion Shawn Porter said about Nikita pre-fight. However, Tszyu proved he is a force to be reckoned with not only in Australia but overseas with his knockout victory over Biggs.

Porter post-fight was still not sold on Tszyu saying he has "got a lot of work to do". “To overcome the adversity of being dropped in the opening round and walking into big right hands and then to produce what he did was amazing," Porter said.

"A prime performance. Not the best – we know he’s a kid and got a lot to work on – but in this moment at this time, it’s a match made in heaven,” he said. Social media users echoed a similar sentiment to Porter but also added that Tszyu's reckless boxing style is fun to watch.

Tszyu admits to having serious worries in opening exchanges

Post fight Tszyu admitted that he panicked after being "rocked" and dropped to the canvas in the opening exchanges by punches he didn't see coming. "Deep waters at the very start. He caught me with a shot that I just didn't see. He rocked me," Tszyu said.

"That kind of punch was something to fear and something to watch out for. He was just a hurdle. He was just a massive roadblock in my brain this whole time," he said. "As soon as I started boxing, he was essentially just like standing there like a wall that I had to kind of climb over and I was always looking at it. So it feels good being able to jump over that and start the next chapter of my boxing career."

with AAP

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