Tim Tszyu’s promoter, George Rose, says Terence Crawford will “never be” the king of the 154-lb division if he doesn’t fight former WBO Junior middleweight champion Tszyu.
Tszyu’s Focus On IBF Title First
Rose states that while they’re interested in fighting WBA champion Crawford in the future, their priority is capturing the IBF title from champion Bakhram Murtazaliev (22-0, 16 KOs) for now. Tszyu (24-1, 17 KOs) needs that piece of jewelry to transmute it into a mega-fight against Crawford if he still holds the WBA belt after his next fight.
Crawford is in a hurry to try and get the Canelo Alvarez payday, and he might not hang around the 154-lb division long enough to collect all the gold and fight Tszyu.
He seems almost fixated on the Canelo fight, and he doesn’t seem ambitious enough to stay around and fight all the talented at 154 to be the true king.
“We’re going to fight for an IBF World Title. Terence Crawford doesn’t own that, that belongs to Bakhram Murtazaliev,” said promoter George Rose about Tim Tszyu. “So we’ll be fighting Bakhram, and we’ll be winning that world title.
“Crawford has now got belts. He’s a guy we would love to talk to in the future, but right now, we’re focused on Bakhram.
“He’ll never be the king of the division if he doesn’t fight Tim Tszyu. Tim Tszyu is the king of the division,” said Rose.
Crawford will have to run the gauntlet at 154 if he wants to be the true division king because it’s not enough if he captures all the belts but swerves Tszyu like he did Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis at 147.
Terence, 36, has got to run the gauntlet to show that he’s the best this time because he fled the 147-lb division without fighting Boots after his win over the car crash-ravaged Errol Spence Jr. last year in July.
Although technically, Crawford was the undisputed champion at welterweight after his win over the half-stunned, weight-drained Spence, he still had unfinished business against Boots to the King.
The Killers at 154
– Tim Tszyu
– Sebastian Fundora
– Vergil Ortiz Jr.
– Serhii Bohachuk
– Israil Madrimov: Rematch in neutral turf outside U.S
– Charles Conwell
– Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis: If he moves up to 154
– Xander Zayas
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