Tim Tszyu is banking on a clean brow and a clean slate when he meets Sebastian Fundora for the WBC junior-middleweight crown on July 19 at Las Vegas’ Grand Garden Arena. The Australian insists the second act wedged beneath Manny Pacquiao-Mario Barrios on Amazon Prime PPV will bear little resemblance to their first encounter, where a second-round elbow‐induced gash left him squinting through crimson for ten rounds and surrendering his 154-lb title.
“The disadvantage I had made it much easier for him the first time,” Tszyu told FightHype. “Without that cut, it’s going to be a whole different fight.” He and his team have devised “multiple game plans,” confident Fundora will have to adjust to Tszyu’s pressure rather than the other way around.
Watch Tszyu and Fundora's talk before the 19th July rematch: Watch
Skeptics point out that the 30-year-old son of The Thunder From Down Under is just 1-2 in his last three bouts, including a brutal knockout loss to IBF champion Bakhram Murtazaliev. Critics also question whether Tszyu can overcome Fundora’s seven-inch reach edge and relentless punch volume without walking into the same uppercuts that carved up his face in their first meeting.
Tszyu counters that his best work comes from “systematically” dismantling foes over the long haul, which he believes was impossible while blinking away blood. “You’ve got to start in round one and slowly raise the pace,” he said, promising a more patient but more punishing assault.
For Fundora, a second victory would cement his status as the division’s most awkward nightmare. For Tszyu, defeat would force an uncomfortable reckoning: maybe the cut wasn’t the problem; maybe Fundora simply has his number. On July 19, the truth will bleed through.
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