Tim Tszyu’s next fight, Jermell Charlo history, Terence Crawford, Canelo Alvarez, Brian Mendoza fight highlights

American boxing great Shawn Porter believes Australia has a “real champion” in Tim Tszyu, but has warned he is not quite ready to challenge Terence Crawford.

On the contrary, his long-time rival Jermell Charlo emerges as the most likely candidate to face Tszyu after the 28-year-old dominated Brian Mendoza en route to a unanimous decision victory.

The victory, which came in Tszyu’s final fight before heading overseas, allowed the Australian to improve to 24-0 as he successfully defended his WBO super middleweight title.

Attention now turns to Charlo and his belts as Tszyu looks to unify the division against the American, who he called “delusional” in his post-fight speech.

Tszyu certainly seems excited to finally be able to face Charlo, who he was scheduled to face earlier this year before the 33-year-old injured his hand in a fight.

Charlo then moved up two weight divisions to fight boxing superstar Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez, but Tszyu next wants to try his luck against the American after this blockbuster fight.

“He (Charlo) is the best 154, but let’s prove it to everyone who is truly the king of the division,” Tszyu said after Sunday’s victory.

In fact, Tszyu wore a shirt following his fight showcasing his list of targets from that point on, with Charlo, Crawford and Alvarez all present.

Porter, however, questioned Tszyu’s ability to beat Crawford without two key improvements to his fights.

“Don’t let Tim Tszyu beat Terence Crawford,” he said during the Main Event after Sunday’s fight.

“He needs more defense and I think he needs a little more footwork. These are intangibles that you have to have against Terence Crawford and I think he is not on Canelo’s radar.

Even if he was and it meant fighting Alvarez at 168 pounds, Porter wondered if Tszyu would have the “strength” and “power” to defeat the Mexican in 12 rounds.

Saying all that, Porter is still a big fan of Tszyu and what he’s seen from the undefeated Australian so far – and that’s not just limited to what he’s done inside of the ring.

“Talking to him, how he handles everything [stands out to me]” Porter said.

“People say you should never change and he just seems to be calm, cool and collected in everything – even after a big win. He turned off the lights.

“I felt like apart from one round it was a shutout and even with that he’s still humble and not too excited and still looking forward to what the future of boxing has in store for him.

“…I’ve been talking to you for so long about his maturity and how much he’s grown in such a short time and I see more and more what a complete champion he is every time I see him out.”

Porter warned earlier in the week that Tszyu “will never see Charlo in the ring,” saying that if the two were ever to meet, they would have to weigh 160 pounds.

“As bad as Jermell performed in his last fight, it doesn’t sound like he has any intention of fighting again,” Porter said.

“But when you fight this bad, you have to come back to erase everyone’s memory.

“So it’s really hard to say what Jermell is going to do in the future, but 154 is not it, I’ll say that.”

While Tszyu was happy to call out Charlo immediately after Sunday’s fight, No Limit CEO George Rose also previously said that the American was no longer part of his plans for future fights.

“Brian Mendoza, Errol Spence, Terence Crawford, Canelo Alvarez… that’s the next step for Tim Tszyu,” Rose said. foxsports.com.au earlier in the week.

“Charlo had his chance and he ran. He literally ran.

“He ran after fighting Tim for the undisputed title, then he ran around the ring to the bank against Canelo.

“And given that Tim is currently the most active fighter in the world, he’s not going to sit back and wait for Charlo to decide if and when he’s going to return to the division.

“Of course we want Tim to become the undisputed world champion, but when the guy who has the other belts is in a fight every one or two years, it’s not a good deal.”