Nikita Tszyu flipped his fight with Koen Mazoudier on its head to claim his 10th consecutive win via ninth-round TKO.
The Australian stopped Mazoudier in the ninth round of their 10-round super welterweight bout at Sydney’s International Convention Centre on Wednesday night.
After eight rounds, Tszyu appeared exhausted but soon surged back to life to force the referee to intervene and end the bout.
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“How does he do that?” former two-time welterweight champion Shawn Porter Shawn said on Main Event.
Commentator Ben Damon added: “From nowhere”.
Speaking afterwards, Tszyu admitted that there was a moment during the bout where he was “out on my feet” and his trainer Igor Goloubev asked him if he should end the fight.
“I was like, ‘No’. I had to push through and dig deep,” Tszyu said.
“This is where strength comes from, pushing through those tough times.”
The opening round looked to go Mazoudier’s way before Tszyu lifted in the second — landing some heavy blows in the latter stages.
Mazoudier struggled to insert himself back into the fight but hung around, landing a big right early in the fifth.
As the pace of the fight slowed, it appeared Mazoudier could sense an upset within his grasp.
As swelling began to develop on Tszyu’s face, Mazoudier took his chances and started swinging.
But with Tszyu matching his efforts with a series of blows, Mazoudier suddenly found himself in difficulty.
A savage straight left midway through the ninth ultimately ended the bout via stoppage.
In his post-fight interview, Tszyu described his encounter with Mazoudier as a “wake-up call”, acknowledging that he needs to be better to climb up the world rankings and announce himself on the world stage.
“I had to work for that. That was not easy. It sucked during the fight but the feeling right now is indescribable,” he said.
“It’s everything that we expected. I have to tip my hat to Koen, he is one tough, tough bastard. I was honestly very, very impressed.
“I didn’t expect him to be that hard. I didn’t expect the fight to be that hard.”
Having claimed a first-round win via TKO in the co-main event, Michael Zerafa could emerge as Tszyu’s next opponent.
