It did not start off smooth, but Tim Tszyu was able to pick up self off the deck and won an entertaining 12-round unanimous decision over former world title challenger Terrell Gausha in the American debut for Tszyu that took place at the Armory in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
In round one, Gausha landed a counter right that dropped Tszyu. Yszyu was able to turn things around as he was able to hurt Gausha several times including in round three where he landed an uppercut that sent Gausha to the canvas but was ruled a slip. He buckled Gausha in round six five.
Tszyu was able to take most of the rounds, but Gausha kept fighting and landed some solid punches that caused some furious exchanges. Tszyu was very active and took the fight down the stretch by scores of 114-113, 116-111 and 115-112.
Tszyu landed 236 of 749; Gausha landed 163 of 587.
Tszyu, 153.4 lbs of Rockdale, AUS is now 21-0. Gausha, 153.2 lbs of Cleveland, OH is 22-3-1.
“It was all so quick,” said Tszyu of the knockdown. “It was good that I faced adversity for the first time and I was able to come back. All respect to my opponent, Terrell Gausha. He’s a hell of a warrior and he’s a true gentleman. It was a simple flash knockdown. It was perfect timing. He’s a former Olympian. He’s got great credentials. That’s a great lesson for myself. I got back up and I dug deep.”
“I felt that I had him in trouble after the knockdown,” said Gausha. “I tried to jump on him but he’s a tough fighter. I take my hat off to him. He came prepared. I was ready for 12 hard rounds too. I think I got a little too excited and I tried to jump on him. But he was in shape so he recovered pretty good. He just pressed the action. That’s what he does. I knew he was going to come like that, and we trained hard for that.”
“I hope we gave the fans a great show,” said Gausha. “I trained hard. I poured my heart out. I’m happy with it. I hate losing but I went out like a champion.”
“I was just enjoying myself,” said Tszyu. “I felt in control the whole time. I kept the pressure on. I wasn’t going to back down. He kept landing shots but I said, ‘I’m going to keep coming forward and keep fighting.’ I kept my composure but I just kept saying to myself that this is a new round. I have to dig deep and I have to catch up here. I felt like I did that. I put the pressure on. I didn’t take one step backwards. I kept going on.”
Michel Rivera Decisions Joseph Adorno
Michel Rivera remained undefeated with a 10-round unanimous decision over Joseph Adorno in a lightweight bout.
Rivera landed 104 of 402 punches; Adorno was 67 of 330.
Rivera, 136.4 lbs of Santo Domingo, DR won by scores of 97-93 on all cards and is now 23-0. Adorno, 136.8 lbs of Allentown, PA is 14-1-2.
“That was four months of practicing in camp,” said Rivera. “I feel so good. I was looking for the knockout, but that undefeated guy is tough. I know him. He’s a power-puncher, but the aggression that ‘Ali’ has is too much. I have a good corner. A great trainer in Herman Caicedo and also Jukka Toivola. But I have talent and I made the sacrifice.”
“I thought it was a closer fight,” said Adorno. “I thought I won seven rounds. All he did was throw jabs. What the judges didn’t take into account was my activity and productivity. If you look at the fight closely, you will see that I hit him more times than he hit me.”
“Everybody now knows me,” said Rivera. “I say that I am the reincarnation of Muhammad Ali because I work so hard. I’m definitely ready for a world title shot.”
Elvis Rodriguez stops Velasco in 7!
Elvis Rodriguez stopped Juan Jose Velasco in round seven of a scheduled eight-round junior welterweight bout
In round six, the left eye of Velasco began to swell and bleed. In round seven, Rodriguez dropped Velasco with a right hook. Later in the round, Rodriguez landed a hard seven punch flurry that was capped off by a right hook that put Velasco in his behind. Rodriguez finished off Velasco with another hard flurry that sent him down for a third time and the fight was stopped at 2:49.
Rodriguez, 141.2 lbs of Santo Domingo, DR is 13-1-1 with 12 knockouts. Velasco, 141.6 of Juluy, ARG is 23-3.
“I wasn’t surprised that I was able to dominate this fight,” said Rodriguez. “I was ready to demonstrate my skills with all of these fans here. I trained really well because I knew that Velasco was going to be a tough opponent.”
“In the beginning of the fight, I started feinting and I was moving around a lot,” said Rodriguez. “But when I started making the combinations, I saw that it was hurting him so I kept with the power punches.”
“The eye bothered me during the fight,” said Velasco. “The outcome was more because of fatigue than being hurt. I’ll talk to my family next before I decide what my future holds.”
“I thought the fight was going to be over after I first knocked him down,” said Rodriguez. “But he did surprise me because he came back in that round. I just covered myself well for the remainder of that round and tried to take him out. I knew that he was having trouble with his eye. I could see that he was cut on the left eye and was also bleeding from his nose.
“I’m ready for anybody at 140 pounds. Gervonta Davis, Rolly Romero, whoever. I’m ready and prepared.”
