By Adam Baskin: Tim Tszyu has now been formally elevated to full WBO junior middleweight champion and shall be making his first protection of his title in opposition to the massive puncher Brian Mendoza this month on October 14th on Showtime on the Gold Coast Conference Centre, Broadbeach in Sydney, Australia.
That is Tszyu’s second to shine. If he beats Mendoza, he’s going to obtain a whole lot of reward and will result in fights in opposition to Terence Crawford or Errol Spence Jr.
Mendoza (22-2, 16 KOs) shall be an actual check for the 28-year-old Tszyu, contemplating he’s coming off a seventh spherical knockout victory over Sebastian Fundora final April and is now within the prime of his profession at 29.
The Las Vegas resident Mendoza has received his final three fights since dropping to Jesus Ramos by a ten spherical unanimous determination in 2021. In 2019, Mendoza was overwhelmed by the unheralded Larry Gomez by an eight spherical break up determination.
Mendoza has regarded like a distinct fighter in his final three fights, beating Fundora, Jeison Rosario, and Benjamin Whitaker. It’s protected to say that if Mendoza fought Ramos & Gomez, it might be a distinct story.
The earlier champion, Jermell Charlo, selected to face Canelo Alvarez for his undisputed tremendous middleweight championship final Saturday evening in Las Vegas somewhat than make an ordered necessary protection in opposition to Tszyu (23-0, 17 KOs).
“Tim Tszyu is the [new World Boxing Organization 154-lb] champion,” WBO president Francisco “Paco” Valcarcel mentioned to Mike Coppinger right this moment. “[The fight between] Tim Tszyu and [Brian] Mendoza is for the title..
Final Saturday, Jermell made it identified to the followers that he was going to deal with getting probably the most “cash” he may with the rest of his profession and that didn’t really feel motivated to attempt to recapture his WBO title from the Tszyu vs. Mendoza.
Nonetheless, it’s doable that Jermell may change his thoughts if he fails to get the big-money fights that he hoped to get as a result of Terence Crawford has already mentioned he’s not thinking about preventing him as a result of passive method he fought in opposition to Canelo.
It’s not as if Jermell didn’t know that he had his WBO necessary Tszyu ready for a title shot as a result of the struggle had been ordered final yr. Jermell & Tszyu had been alleged to struggle earlier this yr on January twenty eighth, however the 33-year-old Charlo suffered a hand harm.
Lastly, the WBO gave Jermell a deadline of September thirtieth to defend in opposition to Tszyu, however he selected to maneuver as much as 168 to problem Canelo for his 4 belts and choose up a large payday.
After dropping the struggle to Canelo by a twelve spherical determination, Jermell complained on the post-fight press convention about dropping his WBO title, saying that he wished to talk to somebody with the group about it.
