Three years of inactivity proved costly for Errol Spence Jr in Sydney, as the former unified world champion called time on his career after slipping to a heavy points defeat at the hands of Tim Tszyu in Australia on Sunday.
Spence (28-2, 22 KOs) hadn’t been seen in the ring since July 2023, where he was thrashed in a ninth-round stoppage defeat to Terence Crawford for the undisputed welterweight world title, and he came out of exile to take on former WBO super welterweight champion, Tszyu (28-3, 18 KOs), who had won twice since losing to Sebastian Fundora in a bid for the WBC crown last July.
Spence looked hurt in the opening round, as a trio of right hands landed to his head and he was having to punch to keep his opponent at bay, a nice left hand finding the mark for the Texan in the second.
‘The Truth’ shaded the third, but the Australian’s size was proving tricky to deal with, and Spence’s timing was understandably off for a fighter with such a long lay-off.
A straight right from Tszyu knocked the 36-year-old’s head back in the sixth, and a brilliant right hand connected a round later, which constantly found a home.
Tszyu was coming on strong, with Spence powerless to stop the momentum, his right hand seemingly not able to miss, and although the visitor stopped the rot in the 10th and let his hands go in the penultimate round, it looked like too late an effort.
He took the last round off, allowing Tszyu to land another right that drove Spence towards the ropes, and the fight came to its conclusion.
One score of 118-110 and two at 117-111 confirmed the win for the 31-year-old at the Afterpay Arena in Sydney, with Spence announcing his retirement post-fight.
“I answered a lot of questions for myself,” he said post-fight.
“Now it’s time to go home with my family and start a new life.
“Yeah for sure [it’s the end of the road].
“I’ve got my faculties in tact. My money is good.”
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Reda overcomes Fleming
The undercard lost a solid fight late on, with Stephen Fulton weighing a whopping six-and-a-half pounds over the limit for his bout with Liam Wilson.
Three 10-round fights went ahead, and the unbeaten Ahmad Reda went that distance for the third time as he took a points win against Paul Fleming (28-2-2, 18 KOs).
Scores of 99-91, 97-93 and 96-94 clinched victory for Reda (9-0, 6 KOs).
Remaining Undercard
Callum Peters (8-0, 7 KOs) won early again, this time in the seventh round of his middleweight match with Ivan Ricardo Actis (13-1-1, 9 KOs) after dominating every round.
Paolo Aokuso (11-0, 6 KOs) claimed the vacant IBF Intercontinental light heavyweight belt as he knocked Luis Antonio Tejeda (12-1-1, 9 KOs) out in the final frame, having dropped the Dominican in the fifth round.
Heavyweight novice Brandon Grach (6-1, 4 KOs) was a points winner against Ike Pluto (5-3, 1 KO), and debutant Tina Rahimi (1-0) started with a win on the cards against Sacha Ryan Dryden (2-3).
