By Gary Todd: With Jermell Charlo deciding to jump up in weight to face the high flying megastar, Saul Canelo Alvarez in a history making undisputed v undisputed battle of champions, it’s left the super welterweight division with a turbulent foreseeable future. Charlo’s grasp at greatness also opens the door for the highest ranked fighters in the division, to fight each other for their chance for glory and realising their own dreams of becoming a world champion.
Since his debut in December 2016, Tim Tszyu ( 23-0 -17 Kos) has been taking care of business in the ring, and in a process of elimination, he has cleaned out everyone in his path to be ranked as the number one contender with the WBO.
Tszyu was recognised as the Interim junior middleweight champion with his devastating stoppage wins of Tony Harrison, and Carlos Ocampo.
At 29, Brian Mendoza ( 24 – 22 wins ( 16 Kos) , 2 losses ) started boxing at the age if 20 years old and although he was winning well and racking up an impressive knockout record, he wasn’t getting much love from the network’s or the media. It seemed Mendoza would be destined to be fighting on undercards across America, particularly after losing twice on points in low key non title fights . The man known as ‘ La Bala’ never stopped believing in himself and on November 2022, he was thrown to the lion that was Jeison Rosario and no one gave him a hope, not even a punchers chance, or a prayer.
In the fight, the former world champion from the Dominican Republic was caught with a superb uppercut from Mendoza in the 5th round, knocking Rosario out to resurrect his career . Next up was the highly regarded, 6’5 southpaw power puncher, Sebastian Fundora, and once again, Mendoza was meant to fall.
In the fight, it seemed Mendoza might succumb to the size and power of Fundora, but he kept punching and kept coming forward, leaning into Fundora’s chest, making him tire, before catching him with a hard left hook , which instantly relieved Fundora of his senses, followed up by an overhand right, left hook combination to stop him in the 7th round. This win catapulted Mendoza to the number one spot in the WBC, and he became the interim champion.
Greatness awaits for both fighters in what will be their toughest challenge to date.
Mendoza ( known as La Bala- ‘ the bullet’ in English) is a smooth boxer that can punch with speed and he carries power in either hand and Tszyu ( known as ‘the soul taker ‘ ) is a calculated sharp shooting aggressive fighter that breaks his opponents down to then knock them out.
There’s not much separating them, with age, height, and their reach is almost the same, and both have similar records with 33 knockouts shared.
It’s champion against champion, puncher v puncher, and for each, winning is everything and it doesn’t get much better than that.
Gary Todd has been involved in all aspects in the sport of boxing for 30 years . He is an acclaimed international author with his books. Check out his latest book, ‘ Annie’s Boy’ online or at garytodd.org