Tim Tszyu defeated Errol Spence Jr. by unanimous decision in a 12-round middleweight bout at Afterpay Arena in Sydney on Sunday, with all three judges siding comfortably with the Australian (The Guardian).

The scorecards read 118-110, 117-111, and 117-111 — a clear margin across all three. In boxing scoring, 118-110 means the judge gave Tszyu ten of the twelve rounds. The sellout crowd at Afterpay Arena roared through every one of them.

Then came the bombshell. Spence, 35, announced his immediate retirement from boxing after the loss. His only previous career defeat came against Terence Crawford in 2023, and Crawford — described as boxing's recently retired pound-for-pound king — was ringside in Sydney to watch this one.

For Tszyu, the win runs his professional record to 28 wins, 3 losses, with 18 knockouts. He is 31 years old, and this was his first victory since appointing Jeff Fenech — the three-weight world champion turned trainer — to his corner. The three losses that preceded it all came in world-title fights on American soil, against Sebastian Fundora and Bakhram Murtazaliev. Returning home proved restorative: Tszyu has now won all 26 of his professional fights contested in Australia, and the Tszyu family collectively held a 56-0 unbeaten record on home soil going into this bout.

Spence, for his part, carried his own long arc into the ring. He had insisted the fight be contested at the full 160-pound middleweight limit, refusing a catchweight — a negotiated limit below the division standard that smaller fighters sometimes request (Premier Boxing Champions). Four years before his 2023 loss to Crawford, Spence was involved in a severe car accident in which he was ejected from his Ferrari. He returned from that to face Crawford, and then faced a long road back to this fight in Sydney.

Premier Boxing Champions promoted the event, and the result closes two career chapters at once — Tszyu's rebuilding phase and Spence's time in the sport altogether.

What lingers is the symmetry. Crawford retired after beating Spence; now Spence retires after losing to Tszyu. And Tszyu, back on Australian soil with Fenech in his corner, has his most significant win since those American setbacks — delivered in front of a crowd that never doubted him.