Jermell Charlo Blasts Tim Tszyu’s WBO Belt – ‘Paper Champion’

In today’s boxing news latest headlines, Jermell Charlo has hit out at Tim Tszyu, following the news that the latter will become the new WBO junior middleweight champion once the American’s fight with Canelo Alavrez begins. 

Charlo jumped up two weight classes in order to face Alvarez in the hope of becoming undisputed at 168 pounds. In the process of doing so, he avoided Tszyu who had been his mandatory for over a year.

They had been on course to fight only for Charlo to pull out with a broken hand. Thereafter, the undisputed champion at 154 chose to move up to face Canelo instead.

That resulted in the WBO stripping Charlo of the belts once he faces the Mexican. As a result, Tszyu will become the full WBO champion. That did not sit well with Charlo, who dismissed the Australian’s new and upcoming world title. 

Charlo On Tszyu

“Right now Tim Tszyu is considered a paper champion. If he gets the WBO (belt) and they elevate him, he’s a paper champion. A champion that didn’t have to do anything. A spar champion. I had to knock everybody out for my belts. So if Tszyu is watching, hey, don’t be too high up on your horse because you didn’t do nothing in boxing. Of course I’m going to take a bigger opportunity like Canelo over Tim Ta-Zoo. Who is Tim Ta-Zoo? Australia knows, but not the world of boxing.

“He’s not a legitimate champion. He fought (Carlos) Ocampo. Who is Ocampo? He didn’t fight dog tough, hard, hard fights. So keep on going. Maybe he’ll get opportunity. But I’m the man. I’m the one who did it in boxing. Tim Ta-Zoo didn’t do nothing in boxing. Tell him to stay humble, keep quiet and time will tell,” Charlo

The only way to settle this would be for the two to face each other. And when Tszyu does get the belt, then there would be enough of a narrative to make the fight happen.

And yet, Charlo does have bigger fights in mind against Terence Crawford. However, Tszyu’s belt will have some pulling power moving forward. 

After all, by facing Tszyu again, Charlo could become undisputed at 154 pounds for the second time. Not only that, but it would dispel any claims that Charlo had decided to duck the Australian. Either way, Tszyu did want to face Charlo later down the line. His following comments confirmed as much. 

Tszyu On Charlo

“A year and a half, a year and a half I was supposed to fight him. A year and a half and then he had the deadline. Rules are rules, there should be justice. You can’t hold a division, you know. It’s wrong. So if he wants that belt back then bring the other three along with it, because I want all four. He’s already talking about coming down, which means that he already knows that he’s gonna lose to Canelo,” Tszyu stated