Charlo’s injury could delay Tszyu fight until mid-2023

By Will Arons - 12/25/2022 - Comments

Jermell Charlo’s broken left hand could keep him from defending his undisputed junior middleweight championship against WBO mandatory Tim Tszyu until mid-2023.

Charlo (35-1-1, 19 KOs) was supposed to be defending his four belts against the unbeaten Tszyu (21-0, 15 KOs) on January 28th on Showtime at the Michelob Ultra Arena in Las Vegas.

In the past, Jermell was furious about Tony Harrison suffering an injury causing the delay of their rematch in 2019. But now it’s  Jermell’s turn to be injured, and we’ll have to see how Tszyu takes it having to sit and wait for the next six to seven months before the fight finally takes place.

However, earlier tonight, it was revealed that the 32-year-old Jermell had suffered two broken bones in his left hand from sparring last Tuesday, and he’s going to need two months in a cast before he can begin rehabilitation.

With the time that Charlo will be wearing a cast and then needing rehab, training & promotion of the Tszyu fight, we could be looking at June or July before the fight takes place. Of course, that’s in an ideal situation where Charlo doesn’t suffer a setback with his rebab or training.

Tszyu has already been out of the ring for nine months since his last fight against Terrell Gausha last March.

As such, by the time Charlo is finally ready to fight in June, July, or August, Tszyu will have been out of the ring for 16 to 18 months. That’s a massive chunk of Tszyu’s prime being taken away from him due to no fault of his own.

Unfortunately for Tszyu, Charlo holds all the belts at 154, so he’s stuck in a waiting game whether he likes it or not. It would be a good idea for Tszyu to take a stay-busy fight against a credible top-five opponent while he waits for Charlo to return from his injury.

Some top contenders will probably jump at the chance to fight Tszyu if they know they can put themselves in a position to challenge Jermell for his four belts if they win.

“We wish Jermell a speedy recovery, and we look forward to adding this important fight back to the SHOWTIME schedule as soon as reasonably possible,” said Showtime Sports boss Stephen Espinoza, reacting to Jermell’s injury.

“We know both Jermell and Tim are anxious to give boxing fans the all-action fight that we have all been anticipating.’’