A world title fight between undisputed junior middleweight champion Jermell ‘Iron Man’ Charlo 35-1-1 (19) and WBO interim titleholder Tim ‘The Soul Taker’ Tszyu 22-0 (16) would be a 50-50 proposition if he can dispatch is next opponent Carlos ‘Chema’ Ocampo 35-2 (23) within the distance.
The 28-year-old Australian was scheduled to challenge WBC, WBA, WBO, IBF and Ring Magazine 154-pound champion Charlo of Richmond, Texas on January 28 before the bout was cancelled after the 33-year-old champion broke his left hand in late December.
Tszyu was not prepared to sit around and stay inactive with no firm date for the Charlo bout to be rescheduled. Instead, he immediately negotiated a bout with the only man to defeat Charlo, Tony Harrison 29-4-1 (21). The bout took place in Sydney in March with Tszyu getting rid of the 32-year-old from Detroit, Michigan in nine rounds.
Again Tszyu could have sat on the sidelines for the Charlo bout, which the WBO has ordered must take place before the end of September. Instead, Tszyu chose to face Mexico’s number one junior middleweight in Ocampo, 27.
The bout will take place at the Gold Coast Convention Centre in Broadbeach, Queensland tomorrow. It’s a bold gambit by Tszyu with so much at risk, but he wouldn’t have it any other way.
His approach to the fight game and constantly trying to improve has won him a fan in retired former world champion turned TV commentator Shawn Porter.
“A year ago I would have said Charlo wins that fight, easy,” Porter said to the Sydney Morning Herald. “After seeing that fight against Tony… now? With Tim busy, keeping that workrate up and riding the waves of energy of being consistently successful, this fight is going to be harder for Charlo.
“If [Tszyu] does something amazing, something no one has been able to do and knock out Ocampo – Errol [Spence Jr] stopped him, but it was a body shot – if he beats down Ocampo and knocks him out, that’s something for me to write home about.
“The more time Charlo stays out of the ring, not fighting, and especially with Tim getting into the ring and fighting, it’s just becoming a harder fight for Charlo. It may even be 50-50 now.
“I see Tim really maturing. When you get in the ring with someone and they say, ‘Who have you fought?’, each fight is a step up the ladder.
“I believe that Tim is taking all the steps and Charlo is staying here. It’s only a matter of time before he goes here [on the same level]. And on fight night, he could do that [go to another level]. That remains to be seen, but right now I think it’s a 50-50 fight.”
