Believing his domestic duties are done, Nikita Tszyu is ready to take on America after changing his tune and claiming victory in his controversial draw with countryman Ben Mahoney.
Tszyu surprisingly but sportingly conceded he thought he'd lost the pair's Brisbane bout last month after the judges, with three vastly different scorecards, declared a stalemate.
Mahoney danced around the ring like he'd won a world title, prompting derision from Tszyu's brother Tim, before his team cried highway robbery.
But after watching replays of the super-welterweight stoush, Tszyu is now adamant he should have been awarded the contest.
"I'm not a very good judge," he said of his initial verdict.
"I scored it 7-3. In a good way, 8-4. I thought I won the majority of the middle rounds. I gave him the first two rounds and the last two rounds but (I won) everything else in between.
"Even my sparrings, some days where I thought I did pretty bad, I actually did a lot better. And then days where I thought I did really good, I did a lot worse than I thought.
"So I don't regret it, because it was what I felt at the time.
"I definitely am so disappointed with the way I fought. I could have done a lot better, but this happens in the sport. You don't always have your best nights.
"There's a lot of things to improve on but, overall I'm still quite happy that I got to do 12 rounds."
The still-undefeated Sydney slayer hopes his best nights lay ahead of him - and ideally in the US.
The 29-year-old and his team have always been happy to take things slowly and not rush into taking big fights in the boxing mecca.
But Tszyu (12-1-0, 10KOs) finally feels ready, despite Tim relinquishing his IBO super-welterweight belt in the US to Sebastian Fundora, as well as losing a rematch and copping a brutal beatdown in another world-title loss in America to Bakhram Murtazaliev.
"I think I can figure it out," Tszyu told AAP.
"This fight was a great learning curve for me and it puts things a lot into perspective. I've got to be a lot more professional with the way I do things.
"I can't be landscaping close to the fight. I can't be doing woodworking close to the fight. Just some bad habits I do.
"Yeah, I've got to be a professional athlete."
No Limit Boxing are known to be pushing for Tszyu to feature on the undercard to the David Benavidez-Michal Cieslak unified blockbuster in Phoenix, Arizona, on December 12.
If they get their way, Tszyu says he'd relish the chance to somewhat fly under the radar rather than be the main event, like for his first 14 professional fights in Australia.
"A different experience," he said.
"Having to face different kind of adversities and even not having to be the headline, that's kind of good as well, not putting so much pressure on me.
"I've had a lot of pressure put on me since the very start, so it could be nice."
With Tim and his Hall of Fame father Kostya both having lost in the US, Tszyu would at least be relieved of trying to protect the family's incredible undefeated record from 57 fights among the trio in Australia.
But if a US date doesn't eventuate, this time anyway, No Limit have confirmed Tszyu will fight at least once more in 2026 in Australia.
Then the pressure will be back on.
