Nikita Tszyu and Michael Zerafa win with first-round TKOs in Sydney
Ismail's corner opted to stop the fight after the Macedonian copped a battering from "The Butcher" at the ICC Sydney Theatre on Wednesday night.
Making his much-anticipated comeback following a year out of the ring, Tszyu needed barely a minute to show there were no lingering effects from hand surgery when he stunned Ismaili with two huge lefts.
The 27-year-old slayer finished Ismaili with a liver punch that broke his hapless Germany-based opponent's rib.
"I wanted to properly hurt him," Tszyu said.
In improving his own record to 11-0 and capturing the vacant WBO intercontinental super-welterweight title, Tszyu also extended his famous family's incredible record in Australia to 52-0.
As well as Tszyu himself, the 27-year-old's father, Kostya (18-0), and older, former world champion brother Tim (23-0) have never lost a professional fight on home turf.
After defending his family's honour, Tszyu admitted he had been driven not only to deliver for his newborn daughter but also to quieten the doubters after his superstar sibling's three world-title losses in the US over the past 18 months.
"I copped a lot of criticism with my brother's recent fights," he said.
"I mean, this is boxing. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose.
"We celebrate our wins and we celebrate our losses.
"There's no shame in it."
Wednesday night's victory may have set up a domestic blockbuster with the Tszyus' arch-rival Michael Zerafa, who earlier destroyed American Mikey Dahlman also inside 2 minutes in the co-main event to claim the WBO intercontinental middleweight strap.
The 33-year-old former world title challenger hurt Dahlman early with a big right before tripping and unfairly receiving a double count from the referee.
An incredulous Zerafa mocked the decision before swiftly taking matters into his own hands, punishing Dahlman further with a flurry of punches to the head.
Standing corrected, the referee had no choice but to stop the fight and award Zerafa a TKO.
While he would prefer to fight Tim Tszyu next, Zerafa said he was also prepared to settle for Nikita if need be — and show who's boss.
"I believe I beat Nikita," he said.
"Nikita's doing good things and beating who's in front of him and he's proving that he belongs at that level with me.
"But I think there's a little bit more to do."
If he really had his way, though, the WBC's soon-to-be fifth-ranked middleweight would prefer to be fighting internationally for boxing's biggest spoils than settling any scores in a domestic grudge match.
"Overseas for a title eliminator, yeah, 100 per cent. Give me that," Zerafa said.
"My dream was to be a world champion, not to fight one of the Tszyu brothers."
AAP
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