Tim Tszyu promised Carlos Ocampo after their weigh-in the “war” Ocampo wants Sunday afternoon in Broadbeach, Australia.
Moments earlier Saturday, Tszyu and Ocampo made weight for their 12-round, 154-pound title fight at Gold Coast Convention & Exhibition Centre. Sydney’s Tszyu, who will defend his WBO interim junior middleweight title for the first time, stepped on the scale at 153¼ pounds, a little lighter than Mexico’s Ocampo, who officially weighed 153¾ pounds.
Tszyu will fight for the second time in three months in a scheduled 12-rounder that’ll headline a pay-per-view show Sunday in Australia ($59.99; 12 p.m. AEST). Showtime will televise Tszyu-Ocampo live as the main event of a two-bout broadcast Saturday night in the United States (11:30 p.m. EDT; 8:30 p.m. PDT).
The emerging Tszyu defeated Detroit’s Tony Harrison by ninth-round technical knockout in his last fight. Tszyu (22-0, 16 KOs) dropped Harrison (29-4-1, 21 KOs), a former WBC super welterweight champ, in the ninth round before their fight was stopped March 12 at Qudos Bank Arena in Sydney.
The 28-year-old Tszyu, the mandatory challenger for Jermell Charlo’s WBO belt, won the WBO interim championship by beating Harrison.
If Tszyu, who is consistently listed as a 14-1 favorite, overcomes Ocampo, he is expected to challenge Charlo later this year. They were supposed to fight January 28 in Las Vegas, but it was postponed indefinitely because Charlo suffered two fractures in his left hand while sparring a few days before Christmas.
Ocampo (35-2, 23 KOs) is 13-1 since IBF/WBA/WBC welterweight champ Errol Spence Jr. (28-0, 22 KOs) stopped him in the first round of their 147-pound title fight in June 2018 at the Dallas Cowboys’ practice facility, Ford Center at The Star, in Frisco, Texas. The 27-year-old Ocampo’s lone loss during that stretch was a 12-round, unanimous loss to then-unbeaten Sebastian Fundora (20-1-1, 13 KOs) on October 8 at Dignity Health Sports Park in Carson, California.
Earlier Saturday, Ra’eese Aleem and Sam Goodman made weight for their 12-round, 122-pound IBF elimination match.
The 32-year-old Aleem (20-0, 12 KOs), of Muskegon, Michigan, weighed in at 121¾ pounds. The 24-year-old Goodman (14-0, 7 KOs), of Albion Park, Australia, also came in at 121¾ pounds.
Goodman is ranked fourth by the IBF, one spot above the fifth-ranked Aleem, who is a slight favorite. The winner will move closer to a shot at newly crowned IBF junior featherweight champ Marlon Tapales (37-3, 19 KOs).
Showtime will air Aleem-Goodman as its co-feature Saturday night.
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.