TSZYU-LEIJA A DAY AWAY!

Photo: Tom Casino/Showtime

By Tony Nobbs

18.01 - In a city that boasts Australia's most fanatical sporting followers, Kostya Tszyu, from San Souci, Sydney, via Serov, Russia will defend his WBC, IBF and WBA "Super" 140 pound belts against San Antonio, Texas' former WBC 130 lb Champion and fellow nice guy Jesse James Leija at Melbourne's Telstra Dome tomorrow afternoon. A crowd, now expected to be 35,000 plus will be there to support the popular Champion, who made his professional debut in this city almost eleven years ago, knocking out Australian Olympic rep Darrell Hiles in less than a minute on the undercard to this nation's last "big fight", Azumah Nelson- Jeff Fenech II. And this is with the Australian Tennis Open on in Town.

Tszyu's second defence as "Undisputed" boss of the Super Lightweight division will be twelfth World Title fight sanctioned by a major body in Melbourne since Bantamweight Lionel Rose, the first of five World Titlist's the city has produced, outpointed Alan Rudkin at the Kooyong Tennis grounds on March 8, 1969. The four Champions to follow Rose were Johnny Famechon (Featherweight), Rocky Mattiolli (Lt. Middleweight) and Super Featherweight's Lester Ellis and Barry Michael. Ellis and Michael battled out the first ever All Australian World Title affair in Melbourne in 1985 with the veteran Michael taking the Title by decision. The last World Title fight to be staged in the Victorian State Capital was Philip Holiday's two round stoppage of Jeff Fenech in an IBF Lightweight bout in 1996. Holiday appears in the main preliminary bout against highly touted Muhummad Abdullaev, the 2000 Olympic Gold Medallist who is one of several fighters on the way up who make the Super Lightweight's the hottest division in the game. However, in Holiday, he is facing by far his most experienced foe in a professional career of ten fights.

Two of the official's working the Main Event tomorrow hail from Melbourne. Experienced referee Malcolm Bulner and judge Anneeka Williams, a newcomer to the World Title arena. The other two judges are Chuck Williams from Hawaii and veteran South African Stanley Christodoulu. This is Tszyu's first fight on home soil since knocking out Calvin Grove in the first round in 1998, and in another major boost to boxing in the Land Down Under, it has been advertised that the seven Network will replay the fight at 10.30 pm local time, the first time an Australian free to air TV
station (by this writer's recollection) has shown a World Title Fight in full on the same day since Mike Tyson stopped Mike Tyson in five rounds in 1989.

Pay Per View station Main Event begin their telecast Live at 11 am AEST.