Tim Tszyu and his manager, Glen Jennings, plan to begin negotiations with WBO mandatory Terence Crawford immediately after their Saturday night fight against Sebastian Fundora in Las Vegas.
Replacement opponent Fundora (20-1-1, 13 KOs) could spoil Tszyu and Crawford’s plans for a super-fight by defeating Tim in their headliner on Prime PPV at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
Jennings told FOX Sports AU that if they’re victorious against Fundora on Saturday night, they plan on starting talks with Crawford right away.
Tszyu is the favorite to defeat the 6’5″ ‘Towering Inferno’ Fundora, but he’s had little time to prepare for his tall substitute, and there’s no way of knowing if he’s going to be ready for this type of opponent given the lack of preparation time.
Crawford (40-0, 31 KOs) has already put himself in a position to fight Tszyu next by petitioning with the World Boxing Organization to use his ‘Super Champion’ position as the 147-lb champ with them to become Tszyu’s management.
Terence, 36, will be moving up in weight from 147 to challenge the winner of Saturday’s clash between Tszyu and Fundora. He’d prefer Tszyu be the one he faces, as he can make a lot of money from Australian PPV sales.
It’s a much bigger fight potentially for Crawford against Tszyu than against Fundora, who doesn’t have a country backing him and isn’t well known in the U.S., even though he’s American.
If Crawford can beat Tszyu, it would improve his chances of landing a big-money retirement fight against undisputed super middleweight champion Canelo Alvarez in December or May 2025.
What would be really interesting is if Tszyu beats Crawford and gets a massive payday against Canelo. However, if Tszyu defeats Crawford, the two will surely meet in a rematch. There will be huge fan interest in a second fight between Crawford and Tszyu if Tim wins the first contest.