Australian junior middleweight star Tim Tszyu was shaking his head after watching the recent performance by his division rival, Jermell Charlo. (photo by Ryan Hafey)
On Saturday night at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Charlo moved up by two full weight divisions to challenge Mexican superstar Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez for his undisputed super middleweight crown.
Charlo was dominated over twelve rounds and was dropped for the second time in his career in the seventh.
In defeat, Charlo walked away with the WBA, WBC, IBF titles at 154-pounds.
In taking the fight with Canelo, Charlo was removed of the WBO title when he stepped in the ring.
Tszyu, who held the WBO’s interim-belt, was elevated to the status of full champion.
He makes the first defense of that belt on October 14 against Brian Mendoza.
In reviewing this past Saturday’s fight, Tszyu believes Charlo did nothing to change the outcome of the contest.
“In all honesty, I thought the fight wasn’t as competitive at all,” Tszyu said to Fox Sports.
“I felt Charlo just went in there to survive. He was working a lot on defense. He never made it competitive. Like, he never really went out there and said, ‘You know what, I’m going to have a go at it.’
“Even when his coach was saying he was losing the fight, you need to go out there and actually go at it. He never pushed it, never put the press up, just moved around backwards. He had a certain game plan stuck in his head and just tried to move around and not get hit, and that was it.
“Good on him for surviving the whole 12 rounds, that’s an achievement on its own. But it’s not an achievement to lose the fight. You’ve got to go out there to win. Either win or die on your shield, as they say.”