Nikita Tszyu's Split Draw Against Ben Mahoney: A Career in Doubt
Nikita Tszyu walked into the Gold Coast Convention and Exhibition Centre needing a statement. He left with a result, a scar, and a storm of doubt.
Across 12 savage, breathless rounds, the IBF super-welterweight title eliminator that was supposed to clear his path to Josh Kelly instead threw his future into sharp focus. The world No.5 survived Ben Mahoney. He didn’t convince him.
The judges called it a split draw on paper, but in reality it felt like a split night for Tszyu’s career: 117-111 to Tszyu, 115-113 to Mahoney, 114-114 even. The numbers only fuelled the noise. The crowd howled. Mahoney’s corner stared in disbelief. Tszyu, blood drying around his eye, said the quiet part out loud.
“I gave the fight to Ben. He was a tough fight,” he told Main Event’s Ben Damon in the ring. “I gave him maybe 1-2 rounds more. It was a close fight, but I thought he edged it.”
Mahoney didn’t hesitate either.
“I do believe I won that fight,” he said. “I thought I came home nice and strong. I believe I took the fight in those (last) two rounds … all respect to Nikita, he’s a f***ing warrior.”
The fans agreed with him. They’d roared “Benny, Benny, Benny” from the opening bell and never really stopped.
A favourite dragged into deep water
This was meant to be Tszyu’s final boss fight before the big time: a hometown eliminator, a hostile crowd, an unbeaten Australian in Mahoney with everything to gain and nothing to lose. On paper, it was dangerous. In reality, it was brutal.
Mahoney started like a man who’d been waiting a decade for this. He pressed forward in the first two rounds, thudding home heavy shots while Tszyu dug to the body, searching for the ribs that had been his route to victory so often before. A slip from the referee in the second drew a wry grin from Tszyu, but the tone was already set: this was going to be a grind.
The fight changed shape in the third. A clash of heads left Tszyu with a bloody eye that bled and blurred his vision for much of the night. He still managed to nick the round with a sharp, last-second punch to Mahoney’s face, a small moment that hinted he was beginning to work things out.
From there, the bout turned into what Damon called “an all-action brawl, a world title eliminator worth of its position.” Tszyu’s jab and body work started to tell, Mahoney answered with surges that had the arena on its feet. Every time Tszyu seemed to edge ahead, Mahoney refused to fade.
The Queenslander absorbed punishment downstairs, then rallied. Coach Josh Arnold’s words before the ninth were simple and chilling: “four rounds to change your life.” Mahoney responded. He bit down and went after Tszyu, even after a low blow in the ninth brought a timeout and a referee’s warning.
By the championship rounds, both men were marked up and exhausted. A slip from Mahoney in the eleventh opened a window and Tszyu hammered the body again, trying to empty the tank of a man who refused to go away.
Before the final round, Arnold went straight to the heart of it.
“This is for your daughter,” he told Mahoney, who turned to the crowd and tried to drag one last roar from them. He didn’t get the verdict, but he got their respect. He got it from ringside too.
“Outstanding fight there,” said Danny Green. “Ben Mahoney, take a bow … you’re a world class fighter and you proved it once again. Nikita … you’ve conquered that 12 rounds against a world class fighter. The future’s very bright.”
Damon cut to the chase.
“I think we need a rematch!” he said.
Green didn’t argue. “For me, I’d love to see a rematch. I think it’s fair for both boxers.”
On this evidence, it’s hard to see Tszyu walking straight into a world title shot without first answering the Mahoney question properly.
Mazoudier survives, Charlo still looms
Earlier in the night, Koen Mazoudier took his own gamble and just about escaped with his shot at Jermall Charlo intact.
The 30-year-old could have waited for the blockbuster with the former two-division world champion. Instead, he signed up for a ten-round war with dangerous middleweight Sam Beck – and got exactly that.
Across ten gruelling rounds, the pair combined for 526 landed punches. Beck absorbed more than 150 body shots and kept firing back. By the third, Mazoudier’s eye was badly swollen. In the sixth, Beck ripped his mouthguard out with a crisp uppercut followed by a heavy left, the kind of combination that can flip a fight and a career.
“Two of the best punches of the fight,” Green said.
Mazoudier held on, boxed in patches, fought in others, and ultimately edged a majority decision: 95-95, 97-93, 96-94. It was enough to keep the Charlo fight alive, not enough to convince him.
“Need to be a lot better than that (against Charlo) – that was a poor performance,” he said bluntly afterwards. “They dogged us – they were supposed to come here. I love the underdog story. Let’s go back to his backyard and take it.”
Mazoudier and Charlo were originally slated to meet on the Tim Tszyu vs Errol Spence undercard before visa issues scuppered the plan. After this scare, the stakes feel even higher when they finally share a ring.
Ruston’s ruthless streak rolls on
If Mazoudier had to work for every second, Kirra Ruston barely needed a minute.
The Australian extended his astonishing run of stoppages with a tenth TKO in ten fights, smashing through Saundre Simmons in the first round. The opening exchanges were cautious, but once Ruston sensed vulnerability he tore in.
A vicious right hook dumped Simmons on the canvas with a minute left in the round. The Bermudan beat the count, but he never truly recovered. Ruston pounced, trapping him on the ropes and unleashing a barrage that forced the referee to step between them.
“An all-out assault!” Damon shouted. “He is something special.”
Simmons raged at the stoppage, yet Green noted he was still “kind of staggered” as he argued his case. Ruston, adrenaline still surging, sounded like a man ready to clock straight back on.
“I didn’t expect it to be the first round,” he said. “Get me in again! I’m ready to go. If he wanted to stay in longer, let him stay in longer.”
Main Event panellist Pete Badel didn’t bother with caveats.
“He is the real deal,” he said, tipping the 28-year-old for a world title shot in the near future.
Family tension in the Tszyu corner
Away from the ropes, a familiar surname carried a different kind of intrigue.
Tim Tszyu, fresh off his win over Errol Spence Jr in Sydney, was understood not to be in attendance on the Gold Coast for Nikita’s eliminator. On social media, he wished “Goodluck to the boys fighting. Keen to watch Koen, Kira, Callum and Wells!” on his Instagram story.
Nikita’s name was conspicuously absent.
Nikita had been there in person for Tim’s last fight, a visible show of support amid rumblings about a strain in their relationship. On a night that was supposed to launch his own world-title march, the absence of his brother’s name only added another layer to an already complicated evening.
Heavyweights trade leather, legends watch on
The undercard carried its own drama and controversy.
Brandon Grach and Ike “From” Pluto renewed hostilities in a heavyweight rematch just a month after Grach had beaten Pluto on 24 hours’ notice on the Tim Tszyu vs Errol Spence undercard. This time, Pluto had time, a plan, and, in the eyes of some, the better of it.
Late shots opened a cut above Grach’s eye in the final round, leaving “the Bull” bloodied and vulnerable. Green, watching closely, leaned towards Pluto.
“He’s landed the cleaner shots,” he said, later adding: “I’m going to call it, I think Pluto was the better fighter tonight.”
The judges didn’t agree. They handed Grach another win, this time via split decision: 58-55, 56-57, 57-56. The difference? A heavy left hand from Grach in the second that dropped Pluto – the only knockdown of the fight and ultimately the decisive moment on the cards.
“All props to Ike from Pluto, he comes from another planet and he fights like it too,” Grach said afterward, face marked but hand raised once more.
Earlier, Rahim Mundine continued to build quietly under the heaviest of shadows. With father Anthony – and his old rival Danny Green – watching on and offering advice, ‘The Dream’ moved to 4-0 as a professional with a unanimous decision over Jae Larsen.
The 25-year-old, whose rugby league ambitions were wrecked by a hip injury, tired late but still banked scores of 52-45, 49-46, 48-47. It was his second televised outing after a controversial win over Lance McDonald in May, and another step in a career that will always be measured against a famous surname.
A night of answers – and new questions
In the build-up, Nikita Tszyu had promised to “bend the rules” if he had to, warning that respect would vanish the moment the first bell rang. He’d vowed not to underestimate another Australian again, insisting he was ready for something “much bigger” from Mahoney than anything on tape.
He got it.
Mahoney, 17-0-1 coming in, lifted to the occasion just as Tszyu predicted Aussie opponents do against him. He fought like a man trying to rip up someone else’s carefully laid plans: the talk of Josh Kelly, the whispers of a US debut against Keith Thurman, the belief in Tszyu’s camp that a world title was a 12‑month proposition.
By the end, both men had earned respect, but neither had clarity. Tszyu had gone the hard 12 with a world-class operator, as Green noted, but he’d also publicly admitted he thought he’d lost. Mahoney had risen to the stage, pushed the favourite to the brink, and walked away without the win he and most of the arena believed he deserved.
The judges called it even. The crowd called for justice. The experts called for another one.
So where does Tszyu go now? Towards Josh Kelly and the world, or straight back into the fire with Ben Mahoney on the other side of the ring, demanding the answer that slipped through his fingers on the Gold Coast?
