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Nikita Tszyu in boxing pose, charcoal portrait
SUPER WELTERWEIGHT

Tszyu vs Mahoney Ends In A Split Draw — And Even Nikita Thinks Ben Won It

An IBF super welterweight eliminator that was meant to crown a mandatory challenger instead gave us a split draw, a shocking 117-111 card and a rare moment of honesty from Nikita Tszyu himself.

By • August 27, 2026 By
  • Nikita Tszyu and Ben Mahoney fought to a split decision draw in their IBF super welterweight title eliminator at the Gold Coast Convention Centre on Wednesday night
  • The cards read 117-111 Tszyu, 115-113 Mahoney and 114-114 — and Tszyu admitted afterwards that he thought Mahoney deserved the win
  • The winner was due a shot at IBF champion Josh Kelly, so the draw leaves the mandatory picture at 154lbs in limbo

A Cracking Fight — And Cards That Tell Three Different Stories

Right then — Tszyu vs Mahoney was supposed to tidy up the IBF super welterweight picture, and instead it has thrown the whole thing into the air. Nikita Tszyu and Ben Mahoney went twelve hard rounds at the Gold Coast Convention Centre on Wednesday night in a title eliminator, and when the scores were read out we got a split draw: 117-111 for Tszyu, 115-113 for Mahoney, and 114-114 on the deciding card.

Let's not beat around the bush about that first number. However you scored Tszyu vs Mahoney, 117-111 to Nikita is not a serious card. This was a desperately close fight — Mahoney the busier man all night, Tszyu landing the heavier, more eye-catching shots — and anyone handing one fighter nine of twelve rounds was watching something else entirely.

Nikita's Honesty Deserves Credit

Here is the bit that tells you everything about the fight. Tszyu, standing in the ring with his unbeaten record technically intact at 11-0-1, told the world he thought he had lost it. “I gave the fight to Ben, honestly,” he said. Make no mistake — you will not hear that from one fighter in a hundred, and it took some stones to say it in front of a home crowd that came to see a Tszyu win.

He was right, too. Mahoney, now 15-0-2, fought the fight of his life. The Gold Coast man pushed the pace, outworked the bigger name for long stretches, and took Tszyu's best digs without folding. If the judges had given him the nod, nobody could have argued.

What It Means For Josh Kelly

The winner of this one was supposed to become mandatory challenger to IBF champion Josh Kelly. A draw means no winner, no mandatory, and a sanctioning-body headache that will take weeks to untangle. Kelly, brilliant in patches throughout his own career, will not mind the delay one bit — but the two Australians deserve clarity, and the obvious answer is staring everyone in the face.

Run It Back — And My Pick

Run it back. Immediately. Same venue, same terms, no tune-ups in between. And I will tell you now: I fancy Mahoney in the rematch. He has had twelve rounds to learn that Tszyu's power is survivable, his engine is the better of the two, and momentum in rematches belongs to the man who finished the first fight stronger. Tszyu vs Mahoney II ends with Mahoney getting the decision the first fight probably owed him — and then we get the all-action Kelly fight after that. If you know, you know. Keep an eye on our fight cards page for when it lands.

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