Undisputed 154-lb champion Jermell Charlo has suffered a broken left hand in sparring from last Tuesday, resulting in his January 28th title defense against mandatory challenger Tim Tszyu on Showtime being postponed until a later date.
Charlo (35-1-1, 19 KOs) broke his left hand in two places after landing a shot in sparring last Tuesday. Jermell, 32, now has a cast on his broken hand, which will stay on for the next two months.
When the cast is eventually removed, Charlo will need time to rehab the hand. Not surprisingly, no date has been given for the rescheduling of the fight because there’s no way of knowing if Charlo will need more time at this point.
With Charlo possibly being sidelined until April or May, WBO mandatory Tszyu (21-0, 15 KOs) is interested in taking a stay-busy fight to keep active, as he hasn’t fought in nine months since his victory over Terrell Gausha last March.
Obviously, it’s not in Tszyu’s best interest to stay idle for an entire year before taking the fight with Charlo. For that reason, Tszyu wants to fight the next mandatory to stay active. It’s unclear who that might be, but there are some excellent contenders in the World Boxing Organization’s top ten for Tszyu to fight.
“I’m very disappointed,” said Tszyu. “I felt like the stars aligned for undisputed, but we move on. I’m ready to take on the next mandatory challenger. I’ll be back for Charlo once he is ready and healed.”
It’ll be up to Tszyu’s management to let him fight a credible contender while waiting for Jermell to heal from his injured hand.
Tony Harrison, Danny Garcia, Xander Zayas, Sebastian Fundora, Erickson Lubin, Israil Madrimov, or Josh Kelly would be good options for Tszyu to fight to stay busy.
“I was sparring, and I threw this nice punch, and as soon as it landed, I knew something was wrong,” said Jermell Charlo about the injury. “I felt my hand throbbing right away,’’ said Charlo. “I had two X-rays and an MRI to see what was wrong.
“It showed it was broken in two places. I hate this feeling. My hand will be in a cast for two months. This was my first chance to defend the undisputed title,” said Charlo.
You have to wonder if Jermell overdid it in sparring for the fight because he seemed keyed up during his recent virtual press conference with Tszyu. Charlo seemed on edge and not as calm as he usually is.