Tim Tszyu’s boxing world title fight will likely be moved to Las Vegas if chaos and damage caused by Hurricane Milton in Florida forces a venue change.
Tszyu’s eagerly-anticipated bout against undefeated IBF super welterweight champ Bakhram Murtazaliev (22-0) is scheduled for October 19 in Orlando.
Milton was lashing central Florida after arriving on the west coast of the state as a category 3 hurricane, downgraded from category 5.
Fellow Australian boxer Mateo Tapia, also on the No Limit card, had been forced to leave his Tampa home for Miami ahead of Milton’s arrival, evacuating along with millions of others as they heeded strong safety warnings.
Las Vegas shapes as the obvious choice for a fight venue move, with Tszyu (24-1) currently training in the Nevada city.
No Limit Boxing chief George Rose says the preference is to remain in Florida for the title bout but his team is ready to move it if necessary.
“As it stands at the moment, everything is still proceeding as per plan but we are prepared to make a mad dash and a mad change if we have to,” Rose said on Thursday.
“We’ve got no hesitation in having to move and choose a safer option to ensure that Timmy still gets his world title shot and Mateo Tapia gets to continue on his trajectory towards the same position as Tim.
“We’re mainly looking at Las Vegas, that’s the main alternative.”We have a couple (venues) that we’re looking at, but I’m hoping we don’t have to tap into them.”
No Limit was forced to postpone the professional boxing debut of Tszyu’s younger brother Nikita in 2022 when the Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre was flooded.
“We were able to move an event within 24 hours and make that happen,” Rose said.
“It’s always a (financial) hit when you’ve got to make late changes like this, even setting up the contingencies at the moment, you take a hit doing that.
“Even if we stay in Orlando, we’ll take a hit because of thosecontingencies.”That’s all part of the game, that’s the risk of being a promoter.”
Tszyu is preparing to return to the ring for the first time since suffering his first career loss in March.
He lost on a tight split decision after an accidental elbow from Sebastian Fundora badly cut his head, with the streaming blood impairing the Australian’s vision for the rest of the fight.
Tszyu then was ordered on medical grounds to withdraw from an August fight against undefeated Vergil Ortiz.
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