Tim Tszyu Rebuilds With Cuban Great Pedro Diaz After Brutal Run of Defeats: Can He Rise Again at 154?

Well-respected Cuban coach Pedro Diaz will now train Tim Tszyu at Mundo Boxing in Miami, Florida. The former WBO junior middleweight champion Tszyu (25-3, 18 KOs) is switching things up after losing three out of his last four fights since 2024.

Tszyu, 30, is coming off a seventh-round stoppage loss to Sebastian Fundora in their rematch on July 19, 2025, in Las Vegas. For that fight and all of his previous ones during his career, Tim was trained by Igor Goloubev.

The Cuban Professor Effect

After Tszyu’s loss to Fundora, he reportedly parted ways with Goloubev and underwent a complete restructuring of his team. He’s now added the great Cuban coach Pedro Diaz. It makes sense for Tim to make changes, as he’d gone 1-3 since last year and been stopped in two of the fights.

Diaz coached the Cuban national team through four Olympic Games (1992, 1996, 2000, and 2004).

Pedro Diaz has worked with these fighters

Felix Savón
Guillermo Rigondeaux
Teofilo Stevenson
Sixto Soria
Adolfo Horta
Armando Martinez
Juan Carlos Lemus
Joel Casamayor
Yuriorkis Gamboa
Odlanier Solis
Julio Gonzalez
Héctor Vinent
Yan Barthelemy

Olly Campbell’s Viewpoint: Why Diaz Might Fail

It’s questionable whether coach Pedro Diaz will be able to make the drastic changes needed for Tim Tszyu to return to his old form. He’s 30 years old now and soaked up a lot of heavy punishment in his first fight with Fundora on March 30, 2024. He lost that fight by a 12-round split decision.

Tszyu also took a beating in his third-round knockout defeat against IBF 154-lb champion Bakhram Murtazaliev on October 19, 2024. He got knocked down four times in the fight, and arguably should have been pulled out in the second round.

With all the young talent at 154, it’s going to be difficult for Tszyu to find a place where he can win a world title. Even at his best, Tszyu was struggling against fighters like Terrell Gausha and Tony Harrison.

Those fighters aren’t relevant in today’s top echelon of the junior middleweight division. It’s improved dramatically in the last year.