‘It’s not just about the W’ -Tim Tszyu plans to take ‘not world class’ Dennis Hogan’s ‘soul’

Tim Tszyu [17(13)-0] is aiming to take ‘everything away’ from Dennis Hogan [28(7)-3(1)-1] come March 31, including his ‘soul’.

The rising Australian talent suggests victory isn’t enough when it comes his eagerly anticipated Newcastle hosted clash with ‘The Hurricane’.

The son of fight legend, Koysta Tszyu, wants to completely break the Australian-based Kildare man and take away everything the back-to-back world title challenger has worked so hard to get.

“That’s the best thing about boxing — once you get in the ring, everything from before, everything after, everything shuts away, and it’s just you and your opponent in that particular moment. [The goal is] to take their soul and their belief and everything they’ve ever worked for … it’s not just [about] the W, it’s taking everything away,” Tszyu said in quite dramatic fashion.

It’s not quite sure if the Aussie prospect was speaking generally or has a personal Hogan vendetta.

However, it is clear he doesn’t overly respect his 35-year-old opponent’s credentials.

The 26-year-old made light of Hogan’s performance of then feared light-middleweight world champion Jaime Munguia.

It was widely accepted the Kildare native was on the wrong end of an extremely controversial decision against the Mexican in Mexico, although Tszyu argues otherwise.

“The history books don’t say that,” Tszyu said. “A loss is a loss. You can’t go back. But look, he’s going to be a tough competitor, tough challenger,” he adds before questioning whether or not the DDP Sports fighter is world-class.

“As they say, he’s world-class. But I think he’s just under that world-class [standard] because he’s never been able to get to the top. But look, I need to beat a ‘Dennis Hogan’ to be where I want to be.”

Although the fight is being built as a world title stepping stone for the Australian it was Team Hogan who went in search of it.

DDP Sports felt with with the pandemic preventing them taking big American offers, Tszyu was the ideal option. The next great Aussie boxing hope believes they have made a mistake.

“I see another confident opponent who doesn’t know what they’re running into.”