Tszyu tames Ritchie for welterweight title

Wednesday, 14 August 2019:

TIM TSZYU walks to the ring for his Australian super welterweight title bout against punches Joe Camilleri at The Star in Sydney, Australia.
TIM TSZYU walks to the ring for his Australian super welterweight title bout against punches Joe Camilleri at The Star in Sydney, Australia.


Tim Tszyu looks set for a ratings rise after carving out a unanimous points decision over Dwight Ritchie in their super welterweight bout in Sydney.

Tszyu (14-0, 10 KOs) won by margins of four, five and six points in a very competitive fight on Wednesday to win two regional super welterweight titles.

He landed the heavier blows and looked good when putting the pressure on, forcing the Victorian back.

But Ritchie (19-2, 2 KOs), who was rated ninth by the IBF, three places above Tszyu, got off plenty of his own shots, sometimes beating his opponent to the punch.

Ritchie was cut near his left eye in the third round, but allowed to continue by veteran fight doctor Lou Lewis.

Tszyu went on the offensive for the rest of the round with Ritchie, obviously conscious of the cut, occasionally pawing at his eye.

Tszyu found the range more often with his right hand as the fight progressed, tagging Ritchie several times in the last.

"He kept me on my toes, he took me somewhere I haven't been," Tszyu said of Ritchie.

"I just proved that 'I'm the best (super welterweight) in Australia, I've cleaned up my division

'It's time to think about going overseas."

Asked a about a fight with former WBO welterweight champion Horn, who was commentating at ringside, Tszyu said: "he's got a big task ahead of him (against Michael Zerafa on August 31)".

"Once he finishes his task then we can talk."

AFLW star Tayla Harris extended her professional boxing record to 5-0-1 (1 KO) with a second round TKO over debutante and media personality Renee Gartner.

Also on the undercard, Australians Steven Gago and Rocky Jerkic lost unanimous ten round points decisions to world-ranked Kazakh fighters in bouts for WBO, IBF and WBA regional titles.






AAP






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