By Allan Fox: Tim Tszyu is predicting a knockout victory in the defense of his WBO junior middleweight title against Brian Mendoza this Saturday night on Showtime.
Mendoza (22-2, 16 KOs) feels that Tszyu (23-0, 17 KOs) has been really casual about this fight, looking past him to talk about his hoped-for next fight against Canelo Alvarez, Jermell Charlo, Terence Crawford or Errol Spence Jr.
Tszyu could flop if he’s not ready for this fight because Mendoza isn’t someone you want to take lightly because he’s got major power, and he’s coming off consecutive upset victories over Sebastian Fundora and Jeison Rosario.
The Aussie Tszyu, 28, will fight at home at the Exhibition Centre in Broadbeach, Queensland, Australia. If Mendoza knocks out Tszyu, it would be a way for him to leave his country, as it would leave a lousy last impression on his Aussie fans.
It’s Tszyu’s last chance to fight at home for a while because he plans on fighting in the U.S. after that, so it’s important for him to look good on Saturday night.
Tszyu wanted to face IBF, WBA & WBC 154-lb champion Jermell Charlo next for the undisputed championship, but he’s busy enjoying the fruits of his labor from the massive paycheck he got for his fight against Canelo Alvarez.
Is Tszyu overlooking Mendoza?
“Don’t blink,” said Tszyu when asked today during the final press conference about his prediction for his title defense against Mendoza.
This might be a fight that could go the distance, and it wouldn’t be a surprise if Mendoza had his hand raised at the end. Tszyu came close to losing to 34-year-old Terrell Gausha last year, winning a close twelve-round decision. Mendoza is on another level than him.
“He’s going to find out on fight night what I bring to the table. It’s an experience, especially since living in Las Vegas, even just my sparring. It’s been levels you wouldn’t believe,” said Brian Mendoza to the media.
“Every day you walk in, a random world champion or Olympian or whatever undefeated prospect is there to spar and work and stuff. So I’m learning every day like crazy,” Mendoza continued.
“I have so many so much knowledge around me and the work ethic too that I built up. There’s a lot.
“Where going to find out? He’s very nonchalant about a lot of stuff, but that’s the thing,” said Mendoza about Tszyu. “These are all the kinds of questions we’re going to find out in there. Everybody can talk and have a pocket face and do all this.”
Yeah, it’s peculiar how Tszyu’s ego has taken off recently, and all you can say is he’s not well-grounded in reality right now. He could be walking into a minefield on Saturday night when he faces Mendoza, who will put his lights out if he thinks he’s got another easy out.
The wins that Tszyu has chalked up recently over Carlos Ocampo and Tony Harrison have taken his confidence into the stratosphere, and that’s the bad thing about fighters who are fed too many tomato cans.
They get things mixed up in their head, believing that they’ve been beating cutting-edge opposition when, in reality, they’re being fed stewbums to make them look better than they actually are.
“On fight night, they call it the circle of truth, and that’s where everything comes out. Whoever was lying, whoever wasn’t working, it all gets exposed on fight night, and I’m trying to find out,” said Mendoza.
“When I went to fight [Jeison] Rosario, it was the same thing. They were like, ‘Ah, this was the best we could get. This is the opponent we got on ten days’ notice. He’s not going to be ready.’ I blew him out of the water,” said Mendoza when asked about his thoughts on Tszyu looking past him, talking about wanting to popular fighters Crawford, Canelo & others.
It’s pretty obvious that Tszyu is overlooking Mendoza in the same way Rosario and Fundora did. What this means is that if Tszyu fails to score an early knockout, he could lose the fight and wind up wondering what happened afterward. There will be a lot of excuses with the old ‘Mistakes were made’ admit a problem but without taking responsibility to own it.
“With [Sebastian] Fundora, they were posting him vs. [Jermell] Charlo already in the build-up to my fight,” said Mendoza. “So, I’m used to it. Everyone says he was going to kill me, and you saw what I did to him [seventh round knockout last April]. Now, this guy [Tszyu] is supposed to walk right through me and get passed on to the next.
“I’ve been here before. This is the experience I’m talking about. They can talk all they want, but he needs to see me, and we’re going to fight out who’s really next for those big shots,” said Mendoza.
