Leading WBO junior middleweight contender Tim Tszyu 19-0 (15) says he knows the secret to beating Mexican superstar Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez.
WBC, WBA and WBO super middleweight champion Alvarez 56-1-2 (38) will face IBF counterpart Caleb ‘Sweethands’ Plant 21-0 (12) at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada on Saturday night with the winner to be crowned the first undisputed champion in the 168-pound division.
Australian Tszyu – whose famous father Kostya Tszyu unified the WBC, WBA and IBF junior welterweight titles 20 years ago this week with his victory over Zab Judah – thinks Alvarez will have Plant’s measure but insists the favourite isn’t unbeatable.
“Canelo does a lot of things very well but there is no such thing as a perfect boxer. He’s beatable and I’d love the opportunity to take a fight against someone like him,” Tszyu told Fox Sports.
“I think [Gennadiy] Golovkin showed in their first fight that there is a way to beat him. I’d do to Canelo exactly what he does to other people – take the fight to him, find the shots to hurt him. Everybody can be hurt.
“I think Plant is trying to psyche himself up for the fight. He might look good for a couple of rounds – boxing well – but I think Canelo will catch up with him.”
Tszyu, 27, has his own ambitions to unify and that opportunity could come sooner rather than later. WBO 154-pound champion Brian Castano 17-0-2 (12) is angling for a rematch against WBC, WBA and WBO champion Jermell Charlo 34-1-1 (18) who he drew with in July.
If that bout gets made, the winner will inherit a mandatory title defence against Tszyu.
“Winning each title one by one will be much more satisfying than taking it away from just one. Why? Because you have to beat everyone in the division,” Tszyu said to Sporting News.
“My dad did it. He won the WBC, WBA, IBF, all one by one, and he cleaned out the whole division. That’s my goal, to clean out this whole division and move on to the next.”
Tszyu has managed to keep up a busy schedule despite the global coronavirus pandemic, fighting four times since August last year.
His next assignment is against hard-nosed Japanese boxer Takeshi Inoue 17-1-1 (10) at Qudos Bank Arena in Sydney, Australia on November 17.
Tszyu says most boxers these days are frauds and could take a leaf out of his book.
“Every boxer these days, it’s all for show,” Tszyu said. “They sit around and have a cup of coffee and go on six-month honeymoons.
“Boxing back in the day used to be so different. A lot of these guys are clowns. And I’m here to expose them all.
“[Canelo] is another old school throwback fighter. American fighters, they’re not the same.
“They’re a bit, ‘one fight and then six-month honeymoon.’ They have honeymoons every year.”
