Undefeated Australian Tim Tszyu 19-0 (15) might be preparing to face Takeshi Inoue 17-1-1 (10) at Qudos Bank Arena in Sydney, Australia on November 17, but he still has one eye on what is happening overseas.
The 26-year-old was installed as the mandatory contender to WBO junior middleweight champion Brian Castano 17-0-2 (12) who is coming off a split draw against WBC, WBA and IBF 154-pound champion Jermell Charlo 34-1-1 (18) in San Antonio, Texas in July.
Argentinean Castano, 32, is angling for a rematch against 31-year-old American Charlo. He has dismissed Tszyu’s mandatory status, saying the son of Hall of Famer Kostya Tszyu is too inexperience to fight for a world title and claiming he is afraid to fight away from home.
But Tszyu has a long memory.
“Yeah, once I start smacking him in the face he’s going to regret his words, I guess,” Tszyu said to WA Today.
“That’s the thing. He’s on mandatory now, so he’s got no choice but to fight me. Look, Castano, he’s going to be a tough challenge.”
As the away fighter, Castano was unlucky not to get the nod over Charlo. He outworked the unified champion for much of the fight, but the judges gave credit to the economical Charlo for his clean, hard shots in a number of the close rounds.
When the dust settled judge Steve Weisfeld saw the fight for Castano 114-113, while judge Tim Cheatham couldn’t split the combatants at 114 apiece. Judge Nelson Vazquez gave every benefit of the doubt to Charlo, turning in a card of 117-111.
There was only one boxer in the ring that night that impressed Tszyu.
“Charlo, I don’t rate Charlo. I never did. To fight for all the belts, you know what? I’d prefer winning each belt one by one, just like Canelo Alvarez did. You get to take out every champion and everyone that’s in the division instead of just one,” he said.
“So we’ll see how it goes.
“Castano is a tough competitor. He’s awkward, he’s tough. And Charlo’s just overrated. Charlo’s just in a world of his own.
“I thought Charlo was going to win, but in my eyes I think Castano won that fight.”
“His pressure and his awkwardness; he’s only small and he always makes it into his fight, so the aim is to make his fight into my fight.”
Tszyu has cleaned out all the domestic and regional competition in Australia. After stepping up in 2019 to win the national crown, he defeated former WBO welterweight champion Jeff Horn and former world title challenger Dennis Hogan last year, both by knockout.
His scheduled fight against Michael Zerafa in July fell through when the Melburnian refused to travel due to Covid-19 quarantine rules.
Junior welterweight Stevie Spark stepped in at the last minute and was knocked out in three.
