The former WBO 154-pound champion consequently has plenty to prove versus Errol Spence on Sunday in his hometown of Sydney, where he’ll fight with Australian legend Jeff Fenech in his corner for the first time. The 31-year-old son of former junior welterweight champ Kostya Tszyu is extremely motivated to show technical-knockout losses to Bakhram Murtazaliev and Sebastian Fundora haven’t permanently eliminated him from title contention in the junior middleweight or middleweight divisions.

Meanwhile, Spence will be fighting for whatever is left of his once-celebrated career in the 12-round middleweight bout.

The former IBF, WBA and WBC welterweight champ will be in the ring for the first time in almost exactly three years when the strong southpaw opposes the confident Tszyu (27-3, 18 KOs) in his proverbial backyard.

Spence (28-1, 22 KOs) insists his lengthy layoff has served him well since rival Terence Crawford picked him apart, dropped him three times and stopped him in the ninth round of their long-awaited, underwhelming welterweight title unification fight in July 2023 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

Spence, 36, has fought just twice in the 5½ years since the DeSoto, Texas, native defeated Danny Garcia by unanimous decision in December 2020.

That detrimental level of inactivity, in addition to the punishment he took from Crawford and previous physical issues, prompted Spence’s skeptics to suggest that this might be the last fight of a career Tszyu thinks has earned the 2012 U.S. Olympian a place in the International Boxing Hall of Fame.

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Spence: “I know that this is gonna be a tough, grueling fight. Tim is gonna push me past my limits when we get in there. … Everybody is gonna get their money’s worth. It’s gonna be a great fight and very entertaining. You’re gonna be on the edge of your seat.”

Tszyu: “I don’t have much to say to Errol at this point. I want my hands to do the talking. I know he’s taken a few things personally, but there’s nothing personal to me. I stand by my words. I want to do damage and hurt him.”

Spence is a slight favorite (-136) over Tszyu (+102), according to several sportsbooks.

Philadelphia’s Stephen Fulton will square off against Australia’s Liam Wilson in the 12-round, 130-pound co-feature before Spence opposes Tszyu.

Fulton (23-2, 8 KOs), a former junior featherweight and featherweight champ, will try to rejuvenate his career following a subpar performance against O’Shaquie Foster in his last fight. Foster (25-3, 12 KOs), the WBC super featherweight champ, easily defeated Fulton on points December 6 in San Antonio, where Fulton came in two pounds overweight the previous day.

Wilson (18-3, 10 KOs) has won five consecutive fights since former two-division champ Oscar Valdez stopped him in the seventh round of their WBO interim junior lightweight title fight in March 2024. The feisty Wilson was previously competitive against IBF/WBO junior lightweight champ Emanuel Navarrete, who beat him by ninth-round technical knockout in February 2023.

Former middleweight and junior middleweight champ Jermall Charlo (34-0, 23 KOs) was removed from this undercard last week because visa issues prohibited him from traveling for his tune-up fight against another Australian, Koen Mazoudier (15-4-1, 6 KOs).

Afterpay Arena in Sydney.

Available on pay-per-view via DAZN and Amazon’s Prime Video for $79.99 in the United States and £24.99 in the United Kingdom. Coverage of the main portion of the undercard is scheduled to begin at 9 p.m. ET Saturday and 2 a.m. BST Sunday. Subscribers to DAZN’s Ultimate plan, which costs $49.99 monthly in the U.S. and £24.99 in the UK, can watch the Spence-Tszyu card for no additional charge.