By Adam Baskin: Tim Tszyu is ready for the next big challenge against “studdering” undisputed junior middleweight champion Jermell Charlo after capturing the interim WBO 154-lb title last Saturday night with his ninth round knockout win over former world champion Tony Harrison in Sydney, Australia.
Tszyu (22-0, 16 KOs) wants the undisputed championship in the position of Charlo (35-1-1, 19 KOs), and he can’t wait to get him inside the ring so he can dismantle the 32-year-old American in the same manner he did Harrison (29-4-1, 21 KOs).
Charlo wasn’t in awe of what he saw from Tszyu, saying that he looked a “little flat” against Harrison. Jermell is still nursing a broken left hand, which is expected to keep him on the shelf until the summer, which is when Tszyu plans on dethroning him.
The last thing Tszyu, 28, wants is to have to take another tune-up while he waits for Jermell to heal up, but if he has, he will. Just who Tszyu would fight next to stay busy would be the major question.
Former WBO junior middleweight champion Brian Castano would be the ideal tune-up opponent for Tszyu, because he holds a draw against Charlo, and it would be interesting to see how he does against the Argentinian fighter. Castano hasn’t fought since his tenth round knockout loss to Jermell last May.
Harrison was doing a lot of talking before the fight, but he wasn’t the same fighter he once was when he got in the ring with Tszyu. Fighting just two times in the last four years will do it to a person. In hindsight, Harrison should have stayed active after his loss to Charlo in 2019.
“I’ve got to sit down with my coach and future out how I’m going to do it. More rounds of sparring,” said Tim Tszyu to the media, talking about preparing for Jermell Charlo.
“That’s the pre-prep talk anyway. I’m not the one that was studdering my words. It was him,” said Tszyu in reaction to Jermell saying this to Showtime Boxing last Saturday:
“He was a little flat to me, but my movement, my style, and my power will make him do completely different things.”
“I think I could learn a lot from his tips,” said Tszyu when asked if he could turn to Tony Harrison for advice about how to beat Jermell. “I want him to be at his best. Whenever he’s ready,” Tszyu said about when he wants to face Charlo.
“July minimum. I’ll be based in America. That’s where the levels go up. I think it was a special moment in Aussie boxing history,” said Tszyu.
