WBO 154-lb mandatory challenger Tim Tszyu’s promoter George Rose expects undisputed junior middleweight champion Jermell Charlo to decide in the next 2-3 weeks on whether he’ll defend against the unbeaten Australian or vacate.
The WBO mandatory is due for Jermell (35-1-1, 19 KOs), and he’s got to defend against the dangerous puncher Tszyu (21-0, 15 KOs), or he’ll lose the belt.
Charlo, 32, is a proud fighter and revels at having become the undisputed champion at 154 so rapidly by taking on all comers.
It’s difficult to believe that he would quickly give up that status after achieving it in his last fight by stopping WBO champion Brian Castano in the tenth round in their rematch on May 14th in Carson, California.
That victory for Charlo was the crowning achievement of his 15-year professional career, setting him apart from the other fighters in the 154-lb division and vaulting him far beyond his less daring twin brother Jermall.
“Let’s hope he fancies it,” said Rose to Fightnews. “He has been very open about perceived weaknesses he thinks he saw when Tszyu made his U.S debut [against Terrell Gausha], and after his own performance against Castaño, he must be full of confidence.”
“If Charlo truly sees no threat in Tszyu, he has an easy call to make – don’t vacate and run away – fight him for all your belts. Come on, Jermell, let’s make the fight!”
Unfortunately, Tszyu, 27, looked vulnerable in his recent life & death struggle against Terrell Gausha on March 26th at the Armory, Minneapolis, Minnesota.
The lack of head movement and the straightforward style that Tszyu used against the 34-year-old 2012 U.S Olympian Gausha made it easy for the American to pick him off with shots the entire night.
Gausha’s lack of punching power hurt him because he lacked the pop on his shots to break Tszyu and impress the judges enough to give him the decision.
Tszyu was dropped in the first round and had problems on defense throughout the contest. Tszyu’s pressure, power-punching, & good engine bailed him out in the championship rounds.
The judges scored it for Tszyu as follows: 114-113, 116-111 & 115-112. As you can see by those scores, it wasn’t precisely a whitewash for Tszyu.
The performance showed that Tszyu has a lot of improvements to make on defense for him to defeat a killer like Jermell Charlo. Erickson Lubin & Erislandy Lara both did a better job beating Gausha than Tszyu did.
If Charlo decides against fighting Tszyu, the title will be taken from him by the WBO, and it will be fought over by Tim & the highest-ranking contender in the WBO’s top 15. That would be one of these contenders:
2. Liam Smith
3. Bakhram Murtazaliev
4. Magomed Kurabanov
5. Tony Harrison
It’s likely that former WBO 154-lb champion Liam ‘Beefy’ Smith would be the one that Tszyu faces.
