Tim Tszyu suffered the first loss of his professional career after an extraordinary bloodbath war with towering American Sebastian Fundora in Las Vegas on Sunday (AEDT).
After a fight resembling a vicious, bare-all-teeth showdown between two lions in the wild, the Australian lost the two-belt clash when the judges reached a split decision.
Fundora, the 197-centimetre beanstalk from Florida, now owns the WBO and WBC super welterweight titles after withstanding the Australian superstar over 12 punishing rounds in Sin City.
A head wound caused by a Fundora elbow in the second round left Tszyu gushing with blood for the remainder of the fight.
He was asked repeatedly if he wanted to continue, but he never hesitated to plough on.
His corner did their best to soak up the blood after each round, and cream was applied to the gash at every opportunity, but the flow of blood was relentless.
Tszyu’s vision was badly impaired by the blood, which left the 29-year-old wiping his face mid-fight repeatedly.
Fundora dealt with a heavily bleeding nose and mouth from early in the fight, but Tszyu was far more hindered by blood.
