Thriving under the pressure of his all-or-nothing US debut, Tim Tszyu is vowing to "take over" boxing's super-welterweight division and become a unified world champion.
"It's in my heart, in my destiny. I'm not here to just take part; I'm here to really take over and I believe it," Tszyu said ahead of today's fight against Terrell Gausha.
The winner of the world-title eliminator will almost certainly face the victor of the blockbuster May 14 rematch between Jermell Charlo and Brian Castano for all four belts.
Tszyu (20-0, 15KO) is adamant he's the premier fighter in the talent-stacked division and has no plans of slipping up against American Gausha (22-2-1, 11KO).
"Don't make mistakes. It's quite simple," the Australian said when asked of his game plan.
Defeat would be a huge setback for the 27-year-old and send Tszyu crashing back to square one in his world title quest.
The Sydney slugger knows he's taking an almighty — and unnecessary — risk as he's the mandated number-one-ranked challenger to Castano's WBO strap.
But pressure? What pressure?
"Look, I've done it 20 times, haven't I? And there's been pressure every time so I'm not concerned about pressure," he said
"I wouldn't know, man. It doesn't bother me. Twenty times now and everybody asks do you feel the pressure? But 20 times I've done it."
What time is the Tim Tszyu vs Terrell Gausha fight?
The main card is set to begin at 12pm (AEDT) on Sunday, with Tszyu set to make his ring walk at about 3pm (AEDT), depending on how long the earlier fights go for.
How do I watch the fight?
Main Event is offering the fight for $60, but if you don't want to fork out that much out, join ABC Sport's Simon Smale on today's live blog at abc.net.au/sport
Main fight card
- Tim Tszyu vs Terrell Gausha: Super welterweight
- Michel Rivera vs Joseph Adorno: Lightweight
- Elvis Rodriguez vs Juan Jose Velasco: Super lightweight
- Joey Spencer vs Ravshan Hudaynazarov: Middleweight
ABC/AAP
