Tim Tszyu says there is no rush for him and interim WBC junior middleweight champion Vergil Ortiz Jr. The two fighters were supposed to fight on Aug. 3 at a Riyadh Season event, but Tszyu had to cancel the fight because his cut from his previous fight hadn’t healed.
(Credit: Joseph Correa/Premier Boxing Champions)
This week, Tszyu had expressed interest in rescheduling against the undefeated Ortiz Jr. (22-0, 21 KOs). However, in an interview today, Tszyu changed his mind, saying there is no “big race” to fight Vergil Jr.’s 26.
Vergil Jr. he recently captured the interim WBC 154-lb title in a dubious 12-round majority decision win over Serhii Bohachuk on August 10 in Las Vegas. It was a close fight that easily could have gone the other way.
Indeed, many fans saw Bohachuk as deserving of the victory, and were upset when Ortiz Jr. chose not to give a rematch to clear up the controversy. The scores were 114-112, 114-112 for Vergil Jr. and 113-113.
After the controversy surrounding that fight, it’s not surprising that Tszyu isn’t pushing to fight Ortiz Jr. and potentially is in the same position. He could be the B-side, even though he came into the fight with the IBF belt in his possession.
Tszyu (24-1, 17 KOs) will challenge IBF junior middleweight champion Bakhram Murtazaliev this Saturday, October 19 at the Caribe Royale Resort in Orlando, Florida. If Tszyu wins that fight, he will have a valuable chess piece to interest Terence Crawford or Errol Spence. Those would be much bigger money fights than a fight against Vergil Ortiz Jr.
“I don’t really know, in all honesty. Right now, I have a plan. There’s heaps of it. He and I are young. There’s not such a big rush to make it happen right now,” said Tim Tszyu Fight Hub TV when he asked him if he would like to reschedule the fight with Vergil Ortiz Jr. “We still have plenty of time.”
It’s understandable why Tszyu, 29, didn’t want to fight Vergil now. It would be a tough fight for him, and it doesn’t bring the money that some of the other fights. Tszyu is interested in these fights:
– Terence Crawford
– Canelo Alvarez
– Errol Spence
– Sebastian Fundora
It is not known if Crawford would be interested in fighting Tszyu in a unification match, as he was exchanged messages on social media this week against Conor McGregor.
“When I get a fight offer, there is no question, ‘Yes’. I don’t need to watch the tapes and think. Immediately, ‘Yes.’ his canceled fight on August 3 against Vergil Ortiz Jr.
“When I accepted the fight, it was a couple of days after I got my points. So I was still fresh. I just came back from a small training camp with my father, I wasn’t ready to go yet. These days, when you’re at this level, you have to be 100%. There’s nothing like taking a short cut and not doing things professionally,” said Tszyu on why his fight against Vergil Ortiz Jr.
If Tszyu and Ortiz Jr. they keep winning, eventually they meet on the road. However, it is doubtful if we will see this fight happen in the next couple of years because there are many other more compelling matches for both of them.
“I’m happy in the position I’m in. What do I need to do? Everything is good at this stage. If there are big battles to be fought, then yes, we’ll start talking and we’ll consider,” Tszyu said when asked if he would be interested in fighting on the Riyadh Season cards. “Right now, I have all the fights in front of me. So, we’ll see how it goes.
“Yes, 100%. I just moved here,” said Tszyu, when asked if he would like all the big fights against Errol Spence, Sebastian Fundora and Terence Crawford to happen in the U.S. “I live in a house here. I’ve been here for the last three and a half months. I’m basically here to live my dream.”
Spence is supposed to fight Fundora next, and is not likely to win that fight. If Spence wins, a rematch between him and Crawford would be more realistic than a fight against Tszyu. A fight between Spence and Tszyu would be fun if it happened because both guys are huge punchers.
“It would be cracking,” Tszyu said when asked what a fight between him and Crawford would be like. “They say, ‘Styles make fights.’ That would be one hell of a show, that one. I thought he did well,” Tszyu said of Crawford’s performance in his debut at 154 against WBA junior middleweight champion Israil Madrimov on August 3.
Crawford (41-0, 31 KOs) is focused on getting the biggest money fight possible, and is not likely to accept a match against Tszyu. He wants PPV level fighters or those with belts.
“The critics will always be like that, but I think he did well. Madrimov is not a bum. People have to understand. 154 is a different division from 147. It’s another thing. The dynamic of boxing changes in three months and six months
“There’s a new winner; there’s a new loser. There’s fun fights, and some people’s stocks go up, and some people’s stocks go down,” Tszyu said when asked who he wants to fight in 2025.
Tszyu is quiet about who he wants to fight next year, but he wants to fight Crawford, Spence or Canelo. If he can’t get either of those fighters, he’ll shoot for a fight against Fundora if he still holds the WBC and WBO 154-lb belts.
