Blood everywhere: Cutman Mark Gambin set to return to Tim Tszyu’s corner for the first time since Vegas bloodbath

“Terrible,” he says. “It wasn’t good, mate.”

One year ago, the veteran cutman unfairly became the scapegoat when he was unable to stem the flow of blood pouring out of a cut on Tim Tszyu’s head after he copped a Sebastian Fundora elbow to the noggin in Las Vegas.

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The shocking nature of the cut and the immense blood loss turned it from a boxing yarn into a mainstream one.

And everyone had an opinion on Gambin’s work.

“It wasn’t a cut, it was like a hose,” he says now, on the one year anniversary of that night. “I knew as I was walking back to the dressing room after the fight.

“I deadset kicked a bucket when we got back to the dressing room.

“My job was to stop that cut and give the bloke some vision so he could see, and it didn’t happen.

“I tried my guts out. I tried everything.”

Tszyu fought virtually blind in one eye before he dropped a split decision and with it, his WBO world title.

“There was blood everywhere,” Gambin remembers. “Blood had gotten into his boots, it was on his toes and everywhere in the shower.

“He was at the press conference and it was still bleeding through 10 stitches, but I was supposed to stop it with no stitches.

“It was tough.”

Gambin had originally planned to spend a few days in Vegas after the bout, but instead drove the 450km to Los Angeles before flying back to Australia the following day.

This masthead caught up with him briefly at LAX, and it was clear the fallout from the fight was overwhelming.

“I came home and it was tough,” he says. “I was getting hammered, and not just in Australia, but in the States as well – and fair enough, you’re going to cop it, and I’ve worn it.

“I still see it now. You click on stories and there’s people tearing the whole team apart.

“Rounds one and two, Tim was dominating, and he probably would’ve gone on with it if he had good vision.

“When you think about that, you feel for Tim.”

A well respected coach and cutman, Gambin maintains the backing of both Tszyu brothers.

Nikita immediately hit out at critics, and used Gambin as his cutman twice last year, including just three-and-a-half weeks later in his 10-rounder with Danilo Creati.

Gambin worked every one of Tim’s professional fights before Vegas, and ‘The Soul Taker’ says there were no thoughts of replacing him.

“I never lost trust,” Tszyu says. “It was a hard time, especially for the fact that there was so much criticism.

“But as soon as it happened, I looked down and it was just like a fountain. That’s what you had to deal with. It couldn’t be stopped.

“But how you deal with that adversity is what everyone can learn from.

“Mark’s back this Sunday, it’ll be good to have him back.”

Gambin’s comeback in Tszyu’s corner should have come much earlier than April 6, but in a roller coaster 2024, there was more heartache to come.

Just days before Tszyu fought Bakhram Murtazaliev in Orlando in October, Gambin needed an emergency appendectomy in Sydney, and was forbidden from flying.

It sparked speculation that Gambin had been dumped from the team after the Fundora fight.

“I was in tears to Igor (Goloubev, Tszyu’s uncle and trainer),” he said. “That was a tough one for me, man.

“I was crying, it was upsetting not being able to be there.”

To understand why Gambin was so devastated at missing the Murtazaliev fight, it’s important to know how tight-knit Team Tszyu is.

“It’s like a family,” Gambin says. “It’s only a small team of five or six.

“And me and Igor have been partners for 25 years. He helped me when I trained Paul Gallen at the beginning, so I didn’t want to let Igor down either.

“We know what each other is thinking. I know when he makes a move with his left hand what he means. He knows when I make a move with my right hand.

“But that Fundora fight wasn’t our night. It happens in life, and you pay a heavy price.”

This Sunday, just over a year on from the worst night of his professional career – and barring any more late-notice medical emergencies – Gambin will be back in Tszyu’s corner against Joey Spencer in Newcastle.

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“It might sound silly, but I’ve already checked all my stuff and made sure my gear is all ready,” he says. “It’s a big week for me too, I want to be really switched on and be there for Tim.

“It’s a mental thing. I want to get in there, switch on and not leave anything to chance.

“Hopefully we don’t see any blood and Tim gets him out of there early – that’s what I’m predicting.”