By Jamal Baker
NDG Sportswriter
Dallas native and former unified welterweight world champion Errol Spence Jr. (28-1, 22 KOs) will make his long-awaited return to the ring Saturday, July 25, against Tim Tszyu (27-3, 18 KOs) at Afterpay Arena in Sydney, Australia.
Originally scheduled to be fought at a 158-pound catchweight, the bout will now be a 160-pound middleweight contest.
Spence, 36, is ending his three-year hiatus after suffering a disappointing loss to one of the best boxers of this generation in Terence Crawford.
Spence will be going into enemy territory to prove he can still compete at a high level.
Tszyu, 31, is a Sydney native and looking forward to the home crowd advantage. The Australian born fighter is a slugger and will most certainly apply pressure in the early rounds of this fight.
However, Spence has proven to be able to handle an aggressive, come forward type of style against former world champions like Shawn Porter and Yordenis Ugas.
“It’s going to be a slugfest,” boxing legend Roy Jones Jr. told FightHype. “Man, it’s a hard call, but I’m going with Errol to withstand the onslaught that Tszyu gonna put on early. If he gets past four, five rounds, Errol definitely gonna beat him. To me, Errol is stronger later than anybody fighting. You get him past round six and you’ve got a problem on your hands, especially if he ain’t beat up or anything in the face, because that’s when he starts to come alive.”
A victory over Tszyu could potentially open the door for another title shot opportunity for Spence but the question is if he really wants to keep fighting following this bout.
“For me, I’m not going to give it all to boxing,” Spence said on the All the Smoke podcast earlier in training camp. “It’s really a fight-by-fight basis. I might be done after this. It just all depends. Training camp, I still got eight weeks left, and I’m like, ‘Bro.’ I’ve been thinking about vacation spots.”
Although Spence is looking forward to enjoying the fruits of his labor, he remains focused on ensuring he walks away from the fight victorious.
“I just want to sit and embrace the moment because I know this is over one day,” Spence said. “It’s over one day and it’s not coming back. I don’t want to be 10 years down the line like, ‘Man, I should’ve enjoyed it more.’ So this time I’m going to fully embrace it… I know I got a lot left, but like you said, I’m not trying to leave everything. You gotta know when to fold ’em.”
I predict Spence will win via knockout in one of the final two rounds. He will attack the body of Tszyu while displaying his ability to fight inside and outside of the pocket.
Valid questions about whether Spence still has his special boxing skills will be answered when he showcases why he is one of the best boxers in the sport.
The fight will be available to watch on DAZN or Prime Video PPV and the main event ring walk is expected to be at approximately 11 p.m. CST.
