The WBO has rendered a decision on the situation in the 154lb division after current undisputed junior middleweight champion Jermell Charlo opted to move up two divisions to fight undisputed super middleweight champion Canelo Alvarez rather than proceed with his overdue mandatory fight against Tim Tszyu.
Charlo will be allowed to enter the ring and be announced as the undisputed junior middleweight champion against Canelo for their September 30 fight, but once that happens, Charlo’s status and recognition as WBO champion will be terminated and Tim Tszyu will be automatically elevated from interim champion to full champion status.
If the Canelo-Charlo bout does not take place on September 30, for whatever reasons, the WBO junior middleweight title shall be declared “vacant” and Tim Tszyu shall be automatically elevated from interim champion to full champion status.
He deserves it as he would have taken it from Charlo anyway in the ring.
The fight was postponed not once but twice by Mell and now he decides to move up for a bigger fight. Its not fair to Tyszu and all those mandatories waiting in the wing. Personally I feel there should be a tournament between the top 4 for all the belts. All the while Mell would remain champion in recess for all four belts.
Crappy way of becoming champion.
Is what it is Rob but I have to agree with you.
To me it would make more sense if the fighter ranked just below Tszyu ( and I guess it would be Tims mandatory) and Tim Tszyu actually fought and the winner is then WBO champion outright and the regular belt becomes vacant
Ken Norton became the only heavyweight champion never to have won a title in the ring. He was elevated to the title.
im not sure..wbo did have some great champions..serjai liahovich for one..
Titleholder not champion ..Charlo is the champion at 154.this should allow for Crawford to move up 154, knock out Tzsyu easy for a title and set a unification with Charlo
Tzsyu ISN’T Spence, who looked like a clydesdale pulling a beer wagon the other night! Spence has clearly suffered neurological damage. He can’t even form a coherent sentence. His days as an elite boxer are over. If Tzsyu hits Crawford flush (and he’s easy to hit), baby, it’s over!
Tzsyu will get KOed heavily if he fights Crawford ,Tzsyu is just like Spence used to running guys over with his size trust me he will get the beating of his life against the ATG Crawford.
Crawford had never struggled in any fight so I don’t understand how you say he’s “easy to hit “
Crawford would easily outbox Tim, he’s a rough guy but isn’t smart enough in there and his defense isn’t very good. And by the way Spence speaks that way because he had to get his jaw literally reconstructed. He would never be allowed to fight if he has a neurological issue, fighters are taken for those and eyes before being allowed in such states as Nevada, California, and East coast etc;…………Spence has fought twice since his accident and people are looking for excuses for him.
this is well overdue…
today would be good
No reason not to do this. Everyone’s trying to become undisputed and unified champion now but it comes with big responsibility. You have to defend your titles. You have multiple mandatory challengers and they aren’t always the biggest or highest paying either, but the division can’t be frozen while you take strange ass fights like this one.
Nice comment. Marvelous Marvin Hagler stated that he always faced Number One contenders in defending his title.
Hagler would have fought 6 or 7 times per year today without taking much damage from the modern 154-160 champs or the mandatories.
Caveman lee wasn’t no 1 so hagler was wrong at that one
Caveman Lee, LOL!!! Haven’t heard that in years. They had better names back then.
Okay I like that Tszyu has been active, but how the fk do you automatically become a champ without fighting for the belt in the ring?!!?
This is complete BS!
Vacate the belts and order the two highest ranked available fighters to fight for the championship.
Didn’t Haney get a belt that way as well? I remember reading Teo called him an email champ or something.
Either way this is preposterous.
Because he became interim champ vs Harrison (2 interim WBO title fights). In 8 WBO global title fights before the Harrison fight.
#1 WBO contender since January 2021. #2 WBO contender since August 2020.
Castano and Charlo were holding up fighting Tszyu for 3 years.
As long as Tszyu fights one of these guys soon, there is no argument that he is deservedly holding the WBO belt:
1 Josh Kelly (International) GBR
2 Bakhram Murtazaliev RUS
3 Charles Conwell
We all know Charlo or Charla was terrified of Tim Tszyu, I’m glad Tim is now champion since he’s been staying busy as the number 1 contender.
This decision is taking away the thrill of winning the title in front of his fans, the thrill to be announced “and the new….” not a memorable way to win the title.
It’s the safest way of losing your title without losing your title.
well, we can see who the WBO wanted as their champion. They just want to give him the title.
Charlo hit the Canelo sweepstakes and likely unbothered with WBO’s decision. Only Canelo is allowed to move around in weight, lose and still be considered undisputed.
The error is making the announcement for undisputed and its not at stake. Now, it becomes a gimmick fight.
Devin Haney road map email champ.
I don’t think tszyu will be happy getting a belt like this. He has old school genes not this new school mentality. I actually think he would rather lose fighting than getting it this way. His next opponent is going bear the brunt of this action.
Congrats to the kid. Big fan of pops.
Boots should move up and take that title. Then fight Crawford. For the throne. At 154.
Peace.
Boots would lose.
Lol!!! Boots is next as soon as he steps up. It’s too soon and people are asking too much of him. Boots will get squashed just like Fulton did once he faces resistance and is left without a plan to counter it.
Ok good decision..
Good! And Tim will continue to fight and let the chips fall where they may.. belts should not be held hostage.
WBO folks are in a hurry to get him there. It would have been nice to see him fight Josh Kelly.
Great to see somebody stand up for whats right. Tszyu did his part, stayed active and kept winning. Then we finally got to the point of a fight just to have Charlo bail for “something better”. He has no respect for the championships and it would be a statement if the others followed in the WBO’s footstep’s.
I would like like to see Charlo VS Tszyu for the title like most of us. Unfortunately this is not going to happen when you have a champion who ignores what the intern championship is and what it stands for. If Charlo doesn’t want to represent the WBO and its championship its time for somebody who will. Its not often that any of the organizations follow their own rules, but one is better than none.
Run Charlo run. Keeping his status until fight time against Canela is only to hype the people watching the fight toake it seem significant. There’s no shame in getting beat by someone 2 divisions higher than you and making your biggest payday to date while doing so. It’s a win-win for Charlo.
Option number 2 would have been a meaningful loss at 154 against Tszyu for the belts, recognition and less money.
CHARLO MOVING UP TO 168?? OKAY SOUNDS LIKE DRUGGS ..LEGAL.ILLEGAL OR OTHERWISE
Charlo didnt want that smoke anyway, Tszyu in 2!
Charles Conwell can’t even get a fight at 154. He kills a man in the ring and everyone is afraid of him. I wonder if Tszyu would fight him?
Tim Tszyu will fight Charles Conwell he doesn’t run from any fighter
I would definitely buy the Tszyu vs. Conwell fight on PPV. What a great matchup!
They need to strip all this uffckers who hold the tittles for months and months and years at times faking injuries and cancelling fights at the last minute to avoid defending them belts. If unable to defend in 6 months…..strip them ufffckers! Its only fair to those top ranked guys who deserve a tittle shot that they have earned with a lot of sacrifice blood,sweat and tears to be where they are! Strip them s.o.b’s!
I don’t fault Charlo for doing what any other boxer would have done. Tszyu deserves his shot at Charlo because he earned it the hard way. However, a Canelo fight brings generational wealth. Tszyu deserves the title as he’s been waiting long enough. It doesn’t matter who has the belts, Terrence Crawford is coming to snatch them away at 154 anyways.
Well charlo will get more exposure fighting canelo instead defending against taxi drivers
The only taxi driver is you and my my Charlo is called you out why you need a bicycle man step up and show us what you got get a pillow ya going to need it
Luckily for Tim, because he wouldn’t of know way beaten Charlo. Any fighter that hasn’t any defense with his lack of experience would not succeed against Charlo. Never been a fan of Charlo………however, I don’t pick on who I hate and like.
Charlo doesn’t give a damn about being stripped when he’s about to make far more money than he’s probably made his entire career. He can always come back down and reclaim that belt again.