The absolute was replaced by a temporary one – Newspaper Kommersant No. 12 (7457) of 01/24/2023

Tim Tszyu, the son of the legendary Russian boxer Konstantin Tszyu, who plays for Australia, has found an opponent for the next fight, which will replace the fight for the status of the absolute world champion in the first middleweight (up to 69.9 kg), scheduled for the end of January this year, but frustrated due to for injuries to title holder Jermell Charlo. Tszyu’s new opponent was the American Tony Harrison. The winner of the match will face Charlo, whom Harrison has already managed to defeat once.

The World Boxing Organization (WBO) has announced that Tim Tszyu and Tony Harrison will compete for the title of its so-called interim champion. The fight will take place on March 12 in Australia and for Tszyu it will be a replacement for another fight, much more noticeable.

Tim Tszyu, whose full name is actually Timofei, is the son of arguably the most prominent Russian professional boxer in history, Konstantin Tszyu.

Tszyu Sr., speaking for the USSR, made an excellent amateur career, and simultaneously with the collapse of the country, he moved to Australia to pursue a professional career. He dominated the light welterweight division (up to 63.5 kg) for quite a long time, defeating a number of elite rivals and eventually earning the most prestigious status of the absolute world champion. To do this, Tszyu needed to collect three belts – the World Boxing Council (WBC), the World Boxing Association (WBA) and the International Boxing Federation (IBF). Today, the absolute champion is considered to be the one who, along with these titles, also owns the WBO title, which was not highly rated in the 1990s.

So, Tim Tszyu, at the age of 28, came close to repeating the achievement of his father. He has already amassed an excellent track record of 21 wins in 21 fights, including great opponents such as Jeff Horn, Takeshi Inoue or Terrell Gausha, whom Tszyu defeated in his previous match last March. Shortly after, it was sanctioned, which guaranteed a colossal stir confrontation Tszyu and Jermella Charlo.

American Charlo is one of the brightest superstars of modern boxing, in all unofficial classifications of the best fighters, regardless of the weight category, he ranks high. And most importantly, Charlo is just the absolute world champion, owning all four belts.

The fight was scheduled for January 28, 2023, but fell through. The cause of the breakdown was a broken arm, which, according to Jermell Charlo, he received during sparring.

Meanwhile, it cannot be said that, while looking for a “reserve” opponent for Tim Tszyu, the WBO chose a passing option that was completely safe for him. Rather the opposite. 32-year-old Tony Harrison is considered an elite boxer. He repeatedly fought for different titles, and the peak of his long career came in December 2018, when Harrison met for the WBC title with Jermell Charlo, whose talent was already obvious to everyone. Contrary to forecasts, Harrison took the upper hand on points. True, the verdict of the judges caused controversy in the expert community, but in any case, the convincing performance of a formal outsider made a strong impression.

However, a year later, Jermell Charlo took revenge on Tony Harrison by knocking him out in the 11th round. And after that, Harrison almost collapsed down in the rankings, ending a draw with little-known fighter Bryant Perrella. But Harrison’s next fight, which took place in April 2022, showed that it was more about an accidental misfire. With seasoned Spaniard Sergio Garcia, the American coped quite confidently.

Now he was waiting for a chance to secure a third clash with Jermell Charlo. ESPN stressed that under the terms of the March fight, anyone who wins it will get the right to fight with the absolute champion. Although, if a simple Charlo drags on, the belts – all or some – can go to the winner without a fight at all.

Alexey Dospekhov