It's Official: Tszyu Gets Lara for the WBA Belt Down Under

It's official. No Limit Boxing confirmed Tuesday that Tim Tszyu will challenge Erislandy Lara for the WBA middleweight title in Australia. A date, city and venue are still to be announced.

The rumor can clock out. Tim Tszyu vs. Erislandy Lara is a fight.

No Limit posted the news Tuesday morning, Australian time. Fox Sports Australia and Nine.com.au both reported the same confirmation, with the fight expected in late November. The Gold Coast is getting mentioned as the front-runner. Sydney, Brisbane and Perth are in the mix too. For now, only the names and the belt are locked in.

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This is the shot Tszyu called for from the ring in Sydney after he beat Errol Spence Jr. in July. He didn't want a soft rebuild. He wanted the old Cuban with the belt, and he got him.

Tszyu (28-3, 18 KOs) is rebuilding after the Murtazaliev stoppage and two losses to Sebastian Fundora. The Spence win was wide, Spence retired, and Tszyu decided 160 was home. Jeff Fenech is in his corner. Taking Lara's belt would make Tszyu a two-division champion, something his father Kostya never did.

Lara (32-3-3, 19 KOs) is 43 and still the oldest reigning world champion in the sport. He's a slick southpaw who has never been stopped, and he has held the WBA middleweight belt since 2021. Plenty of fighters have found reasons not to fight him. Tszyu asked for him by name.

No Limit boss George Rose didn't pretend this will be easy. He called Lara a nightmare and a genius who has spent a decade making good fighters look silly. Fair enough. Age and inactivity cut both ways. If Lara still has his legs, this is a chess match Tszyu might hate. If he doesn't, Tszyu's pressure and a home crowd could turn 12 rounds into a coronation.

The undercard is still just talk. Nikita Tszyu, Liam Wilson, Liam Paro and even Jermell Charlo have been floated. None of them is confirmed. Tickets and broadcast details are still to come.

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Bottom line: Tszyu is done shopping at 160. He picked the hardest belt available to him on home soil. Now we wait for a date, a city, and an answer on whether a 43-year-old southpaw still has enough legs to spoil an Australian party.

Want to call it early? Once the card is set, it'll land on our Guess the Rounds board, so you can pick how long it lasts and win some free points here on Boxbid.

More middleweight reading: Ringcard Flipped: Vergil Ortiz Is a Middleweight Now.

Sources: No Limit Boxing on X, Fox Sports Australia, Nine.com.au, BoxingNews24