Speaker 1: Well, it is my pleasure to welcome to our podcast.
Speaker 2: This week it is Tim Zoo, former w EO Junior
Middleway World Champion, and Tim, you got a big fight
coming up October nineteenth. You'll be challenging, this time for
the IBF version of the title, against Bakram Rtaziliev in Orlando, Florida.
It'll be on a Prime Video the first non pay
review of the Prime Video association with PBC. So welcome.
I appreciate you doing this. I know you've been in
Vegas preparing for this fight or whatever fight you were
going to have. I guess even before this fight was made.
Are you healthy now with the cut? That's what everybody
wants to know.
Speaker 3: Perfect. Perfect.
Speaker 2: I'm glad to hear that. So I want to talk
about that situation. Then we'll get into your upcoming title
challenge against Martaziliv. When you fought the fight in March
that I referenced against Sebastian Fandora, that was the first
PBC event that they did in their new deal with
Prime Video. It was a pay per view headliner. Now
you're headline the first non pay per view. It's like
you are the PBC man of first with this deal.
Do you feel special because of that designation.
Speaker 4: Yeah, it's an honor for me, you know, to be
able to be to be peeked out of the big
stable of fun and to be representing it's an honor.
Speaker 1: That's cool, all right.
Speaker 2: So, like I said, before we get into your upcoming fight,
I just I wanted to talk about a little about
the Fandora fight. I'm probably I think you're probably sick
of talking about it, but it was such a riveting
fight for a lot of different reasons. Just a tremendous battle.
This was back on March thirtieth at the Team Mobile
Arena in Las Vegas. Unfortunately for you, you lost a split
decision cost a year world title. But I have to
believe you made a dramatic amount of fans in that fight,
given how you fought that the excitement of the fight. Also,
you had a chance to win the WBC's vacant interim
title in that fight. Tim, I thought you dominated the
first two rounds. I thought you were on your way
to a knockout victory against Fandora, and then it happened
he hits you with the elbow by accident at the
end of the second round and the blood opened up
on that cut, on your top of your head, on
your scalp, and pretty much to fight. It seemed to
me anyway as a viewer, that had just changed everything,
even though you fought your heart out.
Speaker 1: How much did that impact you?
Speaker 3: That's a good question. Like looking back at it, I
think it did.
Speaker 4: There was plenty of emotions I guess running through, you know, blindsided,
you're constantly thinking about the cut rather than thinking about
the fight.
Speaker 3: The momentum shift.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I could say it played a part, but.
Speaker 3: Again it's some an excuse.
Speaker 4: Sometimes you have to adapt and be able to deal
with what you've got.
Speaker 2: Well, I don't think anybody that would see you or
any fighter fight through that type of cut, that type
of blood, would would take anything as an excuse. And listen,
he was not in a perfect situation either because you
broke his nose. It seemed that the end of the
first round or in the first round, it just felt
like you had more to deal with than he had
to deal with. Because he had the blood, he was
probably swallowing it. Here you're just pouring down your face.
It's very obvious. How in the world did you fight
through the blood Because It's one thing to be cut
and to feel it, and it's another thing to just,
I don't know, probably not be able to see very well.
And it's just it was.
Speaker 1: It was.
Speaker 2: I mean, I'm sure you've seen the pictures and the video.
It was rough man, How did you? How do you
go on for another ten rounds like that? I'm in
awe of that. That's why I'm asking it like that.
Speaker 3: Yeah, well, you know what, when it first happened.
Speaker 4: I knew it wasn't a normal cut, something that I've
had before, or what anyone's had before.
Speaker 3: I knew it was. This was something different because as
soon as soon as I put.
Speaker 4: My head down, I remember the fountain of bloods rushing
and I was like, in my head, I.
Speaker 3: Was like, Nah, this isn't this isn't right. You know,
not this early, not this.
Speaker 1: Early right now?
Speaker 3: You know, maybe in the later rounds, but not not now.
Speaker 4: But yeah, it affected me to a certain extent. It
was it was annoying.
Speaker 1: Did it hurt or was it just in your way?
Speaker 4: I wouldn't say it hurt, but it was just the
amount of blood that was coming in. It was I
couldn't see I couldn't see it was. It was that's
blood is strong. It's not like water. It's it stinks
and when it goes into your eyes, it sort of
stays there. So for me, it was more like I
was I was like I was, if you screen your
eyes like that, you can you can barely see stuff.
So it was like that, but it red Rember.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you remember what I.
Speaker 4: Remember going through the first couple of rounds, I was like, damn,
what the hell?
Speaker 3: There's certain punches I can't see, uh that are just
kidding me? And and I don't understand when you're getting frustrated, you're.
Speaker 4: Starting to swing more on you're and you again you
get caught with it stupa shots. And it was more
about trying to adapt to the situation for me.
Speaker 2: So while you're dealing with that and trying to do
a lot of stuff, get through the fight, deal with
the blood, obviously, try to score your punches. Are you
at this point realizing that he's also struggling because you've
broken his nose and he's got his own issues to
deal with, and it's kind of like who can outlast
the other guy?
Speaker 1: Nah?
Speaker 3: Say, that's that's where that's where everything went wrong for me.
Speaker 4: Is that I stopped concentrating on the game plan. I
stopped concentrating on what's happening in front of me. But
I was rather trying to figure out what to do
with myself. And that's never been, uh, that's never been
in my head when I used to. When I fight,
it's all about breaking or parted down, saying where his
weaknesses are, saying how he's breathing, saying everything about the fight,
and and and that's that's where I wasn't able to.
Speaker 3: Pick it up.
Speaker 2: Now, was there any point where you thought, Okay, you
know what, my corner is gonna stop it. The referee
or the doctor's gonna recommend to stop it because a
lot of us watching, you know, the conversation that's taking
place since that fight was Boy, they could have stopped
that fight. And you know, because there was an accidental fall.
You go to the cards, who's going to win the fight?
And you get out of dodge, you have your belt,
and you know that's the living You fight another day.
Speaker 3: No, that wasn't. That wasn't in my head.
Speaker 4: The method of victory for me was to was to
win convincingly and to win the purple way, not due
to an accent soil over.
Speaker 2: Well, I just know that I've been doing this a
long time. I've been covering boxing almost twenty five years.
I've been watching it for probably forty years. I don't
know if I've ever seen anything like that. I have
so much respect for what you did to fight through that.
That actually took a photo of the blood coming down
your face and made it the picture on my social
media as a matter of fact, on my on my Twitter.
Just it was a remarkable thing. But now I'll talk
about what's come since then. You were supposed to be
lined up to fight against Virgil Artis in August, and
I guess that got called off because the doctors, your
doctor said, you know what, he's not ready to go
because of the cut. How disappointed were you to not
get that opportunity? That was on a big card with
Terrence Crawl off Los Angeles. Uh, you know, on a
on a on what was a really deep show. A
lot of people were saying that the Tim Zuo virtual Artis,
that's the best fight on the card. Obviously it never
did not happen because you were not clear too. How
disappointed were you in that not happening?
Speaker 3: Yeah, it was look as soon as I got back home,
I booked Thailand.
Speaker 4: When I caught up with my dad in Talian, did
a little training campaign and I was ready to go.
And then then I didn't get the clean and I was, yeah,
I was devastated because again because it was something that
would have put me brought back in the mix.
Speaker 3: And it is what it is.
Speaker 1: I guess I.
Speaker 2: Kind of think about it like this. You tell me
if you agree that maybe it was a silver lining
that that fight did not happen, because if you had
fought Virgil Artis, you are the undercard, you're fighting for
an interim title. Now you're the main event and you're
fighting for a full title. Is that like the silver
lining in terms of you know, sort of everything happens
for a reason mentality.
Speaker 4: It so it is yeah, like stay patient, you know,
and sometimes the right opportunities will.
Speaker 3: Uh.
Speaker 4: Also, I think I was a bit desperate and I
was ready to go and I was in I was
just ready to go. I was like, let's see, man,
I just just had my loss. But I'm not devastated.
I'm not down. I'm ready to go, like it's so good.
Speaker 3: Uh.
Speaker 4: But due to the to the cut, it was it
was still not ready. But yeah, everything happens for a reason,
and I'm happy to be in.
Speaker 3: His position right now to be fighting.
Speaker 4: For the for the full IBF bilm on on the
first free to air Amazon Amazon fight.
Speaker 2: Line exactly now your opponent and uh Barker Mark mtazal I. I
don't think a lot of people, at least here in
the United States, and they were probably anywhere even maybe
even around the rest of the world, don't really know
a lot about him.
Speaker 1: Uh.
Speaker 2: He did win this vacant title when Jamel Charlote vacated
the title. Rather than go through with that mandatory defense
that he had against martazliv he ended up fighting Jack
Colk in Calk's country of Germany in April to win
the vacant title.
Speaker 1: Uh.
Speaker 2: He scored a knockout. He looked really good in that fight.
It was a very exciting fight. And I just wonder
what your thoughts were about that before if you saw
it now.
Speaker 3: I didn't really watch it.
Speaker 4: I watched a little bit like the highlights, but I
don't really watch too much too much of my parents,
so to try to figure him out on the.
Speaker 1: Spot, so you or your team, no one's even bothered
to take a look at that.
Speaker 4: Yeah, my team watches. We created a little game plan
from that, not myself.
Speaker 2: Okay, So, like I said, it was a pretty impressive performance,
and I got a chance to see him a few
different times. Back if you go back to your first
fight when you came to the United States and you
fought against Terrell Geshet in March of twenty twenty two
up in Minneapolis. You were the main event obviously that night,
and you got a victory against Gesha on the undercard,
not even part of the main broadcast on that show.
He was on that card and continued his undeated run.
He scored a first round knockout against a you know,
a journeyman type of opponent. I wonder do you remember that.
Did you see him that week? Did you meet him?
Speaker 1: Yeah?
Speaker 4: I remember saying him that week. I remember saying how
totally was he was. He's as much skinny a guy.
I don't know how he made the whit as he's.
He's quite a big boy, and that's it. That's I
do remember glimpses of him.
Speaker 2: And did you think at that point, obviously you know,
you were on your way to becoming a world champion.
He's an undefeated fighter, you know, being built up as
getting close to a mandatory situation. Are you thinking in
the back of your mind, you know he's in my
weight class. Maybe down the road I may have to
fight this guy.
Speaker 4: Yeah, to a certain extent, Yeah, I remember, like I
remember like us sort of like saying each other and
like sort of gave each other like that the nube,
knowing that we're gonna get it on one day. You know,
none of his friendly talk give each other hugs. It
was just a nub now seeing the ring sometime in
the future, but that nod.
Speaker 2: So when they when the fight between you and he
was made, his comments when the fight was made was
I'm so happy that I'm fighting Tim Zoo. I'm paraphrasing
what he had to say, and I also don't speak Russian,
but he was basically saying like I I even before
this fight was ordered by the IBF or you know,
he was the my mandatory Tim Zoo was the guy
I wanted to fight. Are you aware of that? And
you know you're not a guy that a lot of
people call out, So that sort of showed me, like,
you know, he's for real.
Speaker 4: Man, Like I think we tried to make the thought
happen and stuff was getting into way.
Speaker 3: So I don't know what sorry, he's coming from.
Speaker 4: It's easy to say when some futs a mandatory, of course,
it's easy to say that.
Speaker 3: But I don't know if he's telling the truth that
brought the.
Speaker 2: In Okay, fair enough, Stone, I'm thinking to myself, whatever
happens in this fight, I mean, if you win the title,
obviously it's a huge boost for your career. Uh, you're
a champion once again.
Speaker 1: Uh.
Speaker 2: If you even if you don't win the fight, it
is something in your in your future that you want
to have happen. Another rematch against Fondora.
Speaker 4: Uh, I want to just make the biggest thoughts happen,
you know.
Speaker 3: I want to I want to keep myself busy.
Speaker 4: Uh, keep fighting for the for the the US audience,
something that is big for me, big dream of mine.
And then yeah, just keep performing well.
Speaker 2: I mean I would have to think that if you
were to go against Vandora in the future, particularly if
you're the winner of this fight, you're the IBF champion.
He's a unified champion. That's three bells there, so it's
a big time unification plus there's the drama and all
the excitement and everything that occurred in the first fight.
I would think that would be a pretty big fight
in one hundred and fifty four pounds, would you would
you agree with that?
Speaker 3: Yeah?
Speaker 4: Again, the PBC Ross's beak and there's plenty of fights
to be made.
Speaker 3: So that is the Charlos as well.
Speaker 2: The Spenser's Karence Crawford is in the division as a champion.
Virgil is still there. You got Eric Slubin that's been
chirping about you.
Speaker 4: You got Yeah, there's there's plenty. There's plenty of fots
to be made. And you know me, I'm not I'm
not to sit down and wait. I'll getting take Fox again,
suck John Wick hit list and just take them all out.
Speaker 2: Well, I think after a guy looking to fight through
that blood, who fought once through a couple of weeks
after having a dog bite on his arm, we could
easily call up the fight.
Speaker 1: I don't think anybody's gonna disbelieve you. Tim.
Speaker 2: Thank you very much for your time with this. I
appreciate it, and I wish you best of luck in
the fight.
Speaker 3: I appreciate that. Thank you.
Speaker 1: You're dead
Speaker 3: H