Tszyu: “I’ll smack Joshua with a few body shots, let’s see how he reacts to that.”
Make of this what you will, dear fellow fight fan.
Tim Tszyu, who will challenge Jermell Charlo for the undisputed (to the tune of four belts) 154 pound crown on January 29th, says he will one day rule the world as the heavyweight champion. Now, fighters these days set themselves more and more adventurous goals, this as they ‘dare to be great,’ as the saying goes. But can a 154 pound fighter really, ever, possibly get up to 200 pounds and above and win a heavyweight title?
It sure seems crazy to talk about it; foolish even. Yet 27 year old Tszyu, unbeaten at 21-0(15) is coming out with bold predictions in thick and fast fashion. Speaking with The Age in Australia, Tszyu (son of course of the great Kostya Tszyu) said his KO win over Charlo, 35-1-1(19) is “guaranteed.” And going further – much further – Tszyu says he will then slowly but surely move up and conquer the heavier divisions; culminating with him winning a world title at heavyweight! Yes, a heavyweight title.
“There’s Golovkin in the weight above [154], Canelo Alvarez in the weight division after that. We can then go up to heavyweight if we have to,” Tszyu said. “It’s no joke. Roy Jones went from middleweight to heavyweight; super-welterweight to heavyweight hasn’t been done. That’s my all-time goal…… That’s ten years in the making.”
Tszyu, who went pro in 2016, even stated how he plans to fight Anthony Joshua is his heavyweight debut: “I’ll fight Anthony Joshua,” he said. “I’ll smack Joshua with a few body shots, let’s see how he reacts to that.”
Yes, Tszyu does seem to be 100 percent serious. That or he is merely attempting to play some serious games with Charlo’s head. In terms of how far-out, how sometimes-crazy the sport of boxing and its practitioners can be these days, who can know for sure?
But it is true the sublime skills that belonged to Roy Jones allowed “Superman” to rule at 160 and all the way up to heavyweight. And in years even further gone by, greats like Stanley Ketchel, a mere middleweight (and a small one) challenged for the heavyweight crown. But here in the modern age, it would be something else if Tim Tszyu was able to live up to his astonishing boast, if he was able to achieve his mighty goal.
If he is actually serious about it in the first place.