Tim Tszyu was authorative, destructive and pretty impressive as he continued his unbeaten run as a professional in Newcastle, New South Wales on Wednesday with a third-round stoppage of replacement opponent Steve Spark.
Spark stepped in, moving up considerably in weight in the process, when Michael Zerafa withdrew from the bout at short notice. Though Spark gained a lot of respect for doing so, and joined Tszyu in trashing Zerafa for pulling out at the pre-fight press conference, it was one-way traffic on the night.
Tszyu (now 19-0, 15 KOs) had his foe in trouble as early as round two, only for Spark's team to shrewdly but rather cynically knock their ice bucket over in order to buy their man some extra recovery time.
It proved to be a futile move, as the son of Kostya Tszyu finished the job in the very next round with brutal body shots that scored two knockdowns before the official called it off.
“I had fun in there, that’s the main thing,” Tszyu said. “I’ve got one objective in my mind, to take whomever out that’s in front of me. I’ve got all respect to Stevie Spark. But this is my ring, this is my division, and I’m here to stay.”
Though Jermell Charlo and Brian Castano are set to unify the light-middleweight division's championships later this month, Tszyu has other opponents in mind before targeting a world title tilt.
“There’s Liam Smith, (Magomed) Kurbanov, and Danny Garcia, they’re the three guys I’m going for,” he said. “So if you’re watching, boys, I’m coming for you.”
“I took this fight on seven days’ notice, I stepped up two weight classes,” Spark said. “Guys, I did it for you, I did it for Newcastle, I did it for the Australian boxing public. I love fighting and giving everyone a show.
"The hype is real, Tim’s a quality opponent. He’s a future world champion, that bloke, and I’m glad I got to share the ring with him. This is an experience I’m going to take a long, long time in my career. This is only going to help me mature.”