Michael Zerafa has doubled down on old foe Tim Tszyu, rubbishing the undefeated star’s chances of fighting or beating undisputed super welterweight champion Jermell Charlo.
Tszyu seized on the opportunity to remind Charlo about his mandatory obligations after the American dominated Brian Castano on the weekend.
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“He doesn’t have a chance at all,” Zerafa, who is in negotiations with Jaime Munguia for a WBO middleweight world title eliminator, told Wide World of Sports.
“He comes out and says I hit harder, I’m more dominant. Come on man. Just take it easy man. He thinks he’s going to stop Charlo. Come on man. Seriously.
“No one cares about Tim Tszyu. Even when you see the press conferences and everything it always comes back to his dad. And Tim Tszyu said don’t ask me any questions about my dad. That’s all they do. They want to know about the fight with Zab Judah.”
Charlo spewed venom when asked about the Aussie at his post-fight presser after the biggest win of his career over Castano.
Along with the Texan and his brother, middleweight champ Jermall, welterweight champion Errol Spence Jr was also in attendance and called the Aussie “trash” – saying “tell Kostya Tszyu to fight (Sebastian) Fundora or some shit.”
Tszyu is the mandatory challenger for Charlo’s WBO belt, ranked No.2 with the WBC and No.3 with the IBF.
Charlo has mandatory obligations with the WBC (Fundora), the IBF (Bakhram Murtazaliev), and WBO (Tszyu). The WBA isn’t settled on its mandatory situation as yet with a rematch between Israil Madrimov and Michel Soro set to take place.
If you speak to anyone in Australian boxing they’ll tell you Tszyu has done the ground work to earn a shot at all the jewels. He’s the mandatory challenger for the WBO belt, yet the fickle nature of boxing is much more complex, and the road towards a world title is heavily strewn with moving parts, booby traps and false hopes.
It’s going to take a huge pitch from Tszyu’s promoter’s No Limit to convince Charlo to take the fight. It will come down to which sanctioning body has the bigger pull and which fight will best serve the interests of the champion.
Charlo has several options in front of him. He could make an unlikely move up to middleweight and relinquish his belts, or WBO welterweight champion Terence Crawford could move up and fight Charlo in lucrative super-fight.
He could also give up his WBO belt and keep the others and avoid Tszyu, giving the Aussie a shot at the vacant title.
After Tszyu ate that first round knock down in the win over Gausha, there was talk around boxing circles that he may not be ready for a title shot just yet. Former champion Anthony Mundine said it’s “premature” for Tszyu to fight for the title and the Rockdale fighter is “not up to it” at the moment.
“Choc’s right on the money with that,” Zerafa added. “He’s not the only one that has said it, everyone around the world has said it.
“The only people that are saying he’s ready are Tim Tszyu fans, if you know boxing and you get your head out of Tim Tszyu’s arse, then you’ll know he’s not ready for that level.
“He’s (Charlo) a beast. Those boys (Charlo brothers), they’re on another level. I talk about levels, they’re on another level. You can’t have a defence, they just punch through it. He walks you down, he counters, incredible boxers.
“To go out there and say he’s going to knock him out, that’s crazy mate. That’s absurd man.
“The best chance Tszyu has got is probably Fundora and I don’t think he beats him.”
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