Seven months after losing to Sebastian Fundora, Tim Tszyu has described the unified WBC and WBO junior middleweight titlist as the man to beat at 154.
Twenty-nine year-old Tszyu, from Australia, lost a split decision to late substitute Fundora at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, surrendering his WBO belt in the process. The 26-year-old Fundora took advantage of a second round terrible cut on Tszyu in the second round to record a 115-113, 116-112, and 116-112 split decision win.
Talking about the wealth of talents at 154, Tszyu refused to rate Fundora as the best fighter at junior middleweight, but believes he currently holds the titles needed to be judged the best.
“The 154-pound division is red hot right now, man,” Tszyu said in an interview with BoxingScene. “There are names flooding around everywhere. Belts are stacked from everywhere, so it’s good to be in this division right now.”
As well as Tszyu, the junior middleweight division is currently packed with a lot of talents such as Terence Crawford, Fundora, Israil Madrimov, Vergil Ortiz, Serhii Bohachuk, Brian Mendoza, and Erickson Lubin among others.
When asked who among the pool of talents he wants to face, Tszyu said he was open to facing any fighter at 154 but chose Fundora as the first option on his list. Tszyu also has plans to move up in weight in the future.
“If everything presents itself and the way things work out, then yeah, of course. Why not? It all depends on the current situation. Boxing changes. It’s like a fighter loses, and then it’s the next guy in line. That’s all. You can’t really predict the future much. It’s hard.
“Right now, 154 is very hot so I’ll stay here. At the moment, Fundora has the belts now but, no, I don’t think he’s the best.”
Bernard Neequaye is a sports journalist with a specialty in boxing coverage. He wrote a boxing column titled “From The Ringside” in his native Ghana for years. He can be reached on X (formerly Twitter) at @BernardNeequaye, LinkedIn at Bernard Neequaye and through email at [email protected].
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