As legit as the notoriously injury-prone Keith Thurman’s latest injury is, Tim Tszyu has obviously been left frustrated at the way yet another big fight for him has fallen apart, perhaps for good. Tszyu, who was as we know deep into training camp for his March 30th fight with “One Time” (fans have had a lot of fun with Thurman’s nickname, what with the former welterweight champ having fought just one fight in five years!) has seen big fights fall apart before….
“I’m used to the word pull out,” Tszyu wrote on social media. “Thurman, Charlo, Zerafa, Lubin…..And as always the show goes on….see you all March 30.”
The show will indeed go on, thanks to Sebastian Fundora, who has agreed to step in at short-notice. But has Tszyu been avoided during his career? Is Tszyu being avoided? The names the unbeaten Australian warrior mentioned did indeed all fail to go through with their scheduled fight against him for one reason or another. No wonder Tszyu is frustrated. The Charlo fight, one we were all especially looking forward to, suffered more than one postponement and then it faded away entirely.
It seems the same thing will happen with the Tszyu-Thurman fight. Thurman said he suffered a “freak injury” in training, this an injured biceps, and that was that. But in light of Thurman’s track record as far as suffering injuries goes, is this latest one really something that can be accepted as a “freak?”
The bad news for Thurman is his career may well be over. At age 35, and with so much chronic inactivity having plagued his career, who is willing to have faith in Thurman ever again? Again, it’s not Thurman’s fault, but all the same, does he deserve yet another chance?
The good news for Tszyu is he will now fight a world title fight, with him defending his WBO 154 pound title against the towering Fundora. And for we fans, this one may turn out to be a better action fight than what Tszyu-Thurman would have given us. Hopefully, Fundora will be able to go ahead with the fight that is just 11 days away!
