Tim Tszyu says there is no rush for him and WBC interim junior middleweight champion Vergil Ortiz Jr. to fight. The two fighters were supposed to fight in a Riyadh season event on August 3, but Tszyu had to cancel the fight because his cut from his previous fight had not healed.
(Credit: Joseph Correa/Premier Boxing Champions)
Tszyu this week expressed interest in fighting the undefeated Ortiz Jr. (22-0, 21 KOs) to be rescheduled. However, in an interview today, Tszyu changed his mind, saying there was no “big rush” to sign 26-year-old Vergil Jr.
Vergil Jr. recently captured the WBC 154-pound interim title in a questionable 12-round majority decision win over Serhii Bohachuk on Aug. 10 in Las Vegas. It was a close battle that could have easily gone the other way.
Indeed, many fans saw Bohachuk as deserving of the win, and they were upset when Ortiz Jr. chose not to give him 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 is in no rush to beat Ortiz Jr. to fight and possibly find himself in the same position. He would probably be the B-side even if 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. These would be much bigger money fights than a clash against Vergil Ortiz Jr.
“I don’t really know, in all honesty. Right now I have a plan. There are loads of him. He and I are young. There is not such a big rush to make it happen now,” said Tim Tszyu Fight Hub TV when asked if he wanted the fight with Vergil Ortiz Jr. want to reschedule. “We still have loads of time left.”
It’s understandable why Tszyu (29) doesn’t want to fight Vergil now. It would be a tough fight for him, and it wouldn’t bring in the money that some of the other fights would. Tszyu is interested in these fights:
– Terence Crawford
– Canelo Alvarez
– Errol Spence
– Sebastian Fundora
It is unknown if Crawford would be interested in fighting Tszyu in a unification bout as he has been trading messages on social media this week against Conor McGregor.
“As soon as I’m offered a fight, there’s no doubt: ‘Yes’. I don’t have to watch tapes and think about it. Immediately, “Yes.” It just so happens that the cut is still healing,” Tszyu said of his canceled Aug. 3 fight against Vergil Ortiz Jr.
“As soon as I accepted the fight, it was a few days after I got my stitches out. So it was still fresh. As soon as I got back from a training camp with my dad, it wasn’t ready to go yet. Nowadays, when you’re at this level, you have to be 100%. There is no such thing as taking a short corner and rushing things and not doing things professionally,” Tszyu said on why his fight against Vergil Ortiz Jr. failed.
If Tszyu and Ortiz Jr. keep winning, they will eventually meet along the way. However, it’s doubtful we’ll see that fight happen in the next two years, as there are plenty of other more compelling matchups for both.
“I’m happy in the position I’m in. What should I do? All is well at this stage. If there are big fights to be made, then yes, we will start talking and consider it,” Tszyu said when asked if he would be interested in fighting on the Riyadh season cards. “At the moment I have all the battles ahead of me. So, we’ll see how it goes.
“Yes, 100%. I basically moved here,” said Tszyu, when asked if he wanted all the big fights against Errol Spence, Sebastian Fundora and Terence Crawford to take place in the US. “I live in a house here. I have been here for the past three and a half months. I’m basically here in America to live my dream.”
Spence is supposed to fight Fundora next, and he probably won’t win that fight. If Spence wins, a rematch between him and Crawford would be more realistic than a clash against Tszyu. A fight between Spence and Tszyu would be entertaining if it happened because both guys are great punchers.
“It will crack,” Tszyu said when asked what a fight between him and Crawford would look like. “They say, ‘Styles make fights.’ That would be a hell of a show, that one. I think 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 fights possible, and he probably won’t agree to a matchup against Tszyu. He wants the PPV level fighters or those who have belts.
“Critics are always going to be like that, but I think he did well. Madrimov is not a bum. People need to understand. 154 is a different division than 147. That’s a different thing. The boxing dynamic changes within three months and six months.
“There is a new winner; there is a new loser. There are entertaining fights, and some people’s stock goes up, and some people’s stock goes down,” Tszyu said when asked who he wants to fight in 2025.
Tszyu is tight-lipped about who he wants to fight next year, but he wants to fight Crawford, Spence or Canelo. If he can’t land either of those fighters, he’ll be gunning for a fight against Fundora if he still holds the WBC and WBO 154-lb belts.
