Former world champion Keith Thurman has considered the impact of Errol Spence Jr’s three-year layoff ahead of his encounter with Tim Tszyu.
The pair will collide at a catchweight of 158lbs on July 25, with Spence entering his first outing since suffering a ninth-round stoppage defeat to Terence Crawford.
Their surprisingly one-sided contest saw ‘The Truth’ lose his WBC, IBF and WBA world welterweight titles, while Crawford ultimately went on to become a three-division undisputed champion.
In an effort to reignite his career, however, Spence is now gearing up to face former world super-welterweight champion Tszyu, who lost his WBO title via a split decision defeat to Sebastian Fundora in 2024.
The Australian was then stopped in round three by Bakhram Murtazaliev later that year, before suffering a seventh-round stoppage defeat in his rematch with Fundora last July.
Tszyu has also made several changes to his training team over the past year or so, most recently hiring Australian great Jeff Fenech as his head coach.
When asked by MillCity Boxing about their clash in Australia, Thurman highlighted the 31-year-old’s greater activity as a clear advantage against Spence.
At the same time, though, ‘One Time’ recognises Spence’s pedigree as an important factor against Tszyu, even with the 36-year-old having remained out of the ring since July 2023.
“A lot of people see it as a 50/50 [fight]. Spence has [had] too big of a layoff – that’s the biggest question mark.
“When your layoff is long [and] no one’s seen you, they don’t know what version of you they’re gonna get.
“They’re going to analyse you off of your last performance – [and Spence’s] last performance was not that good.
“I think Tim Tszyu has the advantage of activity and then Spence has the advantage of pedigree. He’s been at another level; he’s achieved more [than Tszyu].
“But it’s a solid 50/50 [fight], because they both have some questions that need answers.”
Indeed, Spence has defeated more world-class opponents, and generally competed at a higher level, than Tszyu, whose most significant win came against Brian Mendoza in 2023.