There are few things certain in this world other than death, taxes and boxing scorecards that leave fans scratching their heads.
Tim Tszyu took the first loss in his professional boxing career on Sunday afternoon (Australian time) via a split decision to Sebastian Fundora.
The 29-year-old Aussie went down on his shield however, fighting 10 rounds with minimal vision after a deep gash on his forehead poured into his eyes.
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There were no excuses for Tszyu after the loss, as he was praised for his classy response, paying tribute to Fundora who won the fight fair and square.
In the world of what could have been, Tszyu really should have won the fight, flying out of the blocks with a brilliant opening.
But at the end of the second round, a slip on Fundora’s foot sent his head straight into his lanky opponent’s elbow, flipping the fight on its head.
From there, Fundora was easily the harder worker, throwing almost twice as many punches as Tszyu (721-400), despite only landing 194 to Tszyu’s 175.
The jab was the difference, with Fundora throwing 437, while connecting with 93 to Tszyu’s 39 of 112.
When it came to power punches, Tszyu landed 136 of 288, to Fundora’s 101 of 284.
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But for many judges, it’s all about the work and after the cut, Fundora began to control the fight, working behind his jab to ensure the Aussie couldn’t see.
It was a smart ploy from the 197cm giant and most believe Fundora was the deserved winner.
However, it was a split result, with judge Tim Cheatham still giving the win to Tszyu 116-112 or eight rounds to four — while David Sutherland scored the fight 115-113 and Steve Weisfeld had it 116-112 to Fundora.
Even Tszyu appeared to be resigned to his fate as the warriors awaited the score.
However, the scorecard itself tells a confused story from the judges with just six of the 12 rounds unanimous.
‘I’m not a winner’ Gutted Tszyu on loss | 03:52
Rounds one to four, seven and 10 were all agreed upon by the judges.
But Cheatham scored rounds five, six and nine for Tszyu, while the others gave it to Fundora. In rounds eight and 11, Weisfeld gave it to Fundora, while the other two gave it to Tszyu.
And even more bizarrely, Weisfeld gave the final round to Tszyu despite the other two giving it to Fundora.
While not as criminal as some of the scorecards out there, it was enough to raise more than a few eyebrows in the hard-fought contest.
ESPN boxing insider Mike Coppinger shared the scorecard, revealing that if Sutherland had given the final round to Tszyu, the fight would have been a draw.
“If Tim Tszyu won the final round on Sutherland’s scorecard, he would have pulled out a draw. Amazing fight wasn’t stopped with how bad Tszyu’s vision was due to that cut, but credit to Fundora for executing a disciplined game plan and fighting through some bad cuts of his own,” Coppinger wrote.
The reaction to the messy scorecard was swift, with plenty of fans questioning how the judges could be so far off away from each other.
The Boxed Out Podcast wrote: “Don’t agree with the Tszyu 116-112 scorecard. That was pretty bad. Maybe they had blood in their eyes.”
Boxing reporter Dan Rafael revealed it wasn’t the only wonky card of the night with judge Chris Flores having Rolly Romera up 66-65 against Isaac Cruz, despite completely losing his legs in the first round.
After the fight, the boxing world hit out at Tszyu’s team for not forcing a no contest after the early injury.
Source Agencies
