Via Jack Tiernan: 154-lb WBO No. 1 contenders Tim Tszyu and Terrell Gausha have a fight in the works to be added to the bottom of Jermell Charlo and Brian Castano II’s cards on March 19. The plan is for the winner. won the fight between Tszyu and Gausha to fight the victor Charlo – Castano 2.
‘Soul Taker’ Tszyu (20-0, 15 KOs) is a must for WBO middleweight champion Castano (17-0-2, 12 KOs) and he’s waiting to go up in smoke after his rematch with IBF, WBA & WBC champion Charlo (34-1-1, 18 KOs).
It was a tough match for Tszyu against Olympian Gausha 2012 (22-2-1, 11 KOs), as the American has a lot of experience in the amateur and professional divisions. Gausha shared the ring with these boxers:
- Erislandy Lara – lost 12 UD
- Austin Trout – draw 12
- Erickson Lubin – UD 12 lost
- Jamontay Clark
- Joey Hernandez
- Orlando Lara
Gausha, 34, will not be an easy task to beat Tszyu, as he has never been knocked down before in his 10-year professional career and he has top-notch boxing skills.
The only reason Gausha hasn’t ranked in the top 15 is because of his two recent losses to former WBA 154-lb champions Erislandy Lara and Erickson Lubinson. Gausha went the distance of 12 innings in both of those matches but was underrated on the judges’ scorecards.
Tszyu, son of renowned former IBF/WBA/WBC lightweight champion Kostya Tszyu, would be the challenger for world title now against Castano had it not been for the controversial 12th round draw between the incoming 154lb WBO champion from Argentina and the IBF/WBA/WBC champion Jermell last July in San Antonio, Texas.
Castano, 32, has found the hard way to beat Texan Charlo at home in Texas in 2021.
Tszyu will take a decisive round 12 win over the always tough young middleweight world title challenger Takeshi Inoue on November 17 in Sydney, Australia.
32-year-old Inoue displayed an iron chin and made Tszyu’s best hits to survive the 12-round gap, but he was completely underwhelmed. The scores are: 120-107, 119-108 and 120-107.
For Inoue, you could argue it was a mental win as he could see the final bell in the 12th round as he clinched Tszyu’s straight knockout win.
Going into the competition, Tszyu has stopped his last 5 opponents since 2019 and it was believed that he would take down Inoue too but he couldn’t.
If Jermell Charlo defeats Castano in their rematch on March 19, it will be interesting to see if the American can defend his four titles against Tszyu.
In the past, Charlo seemed cold to the idea of defending against Tszyu for a number of reasons. If Jermell chooses not to take on the WBO mandatory Tszyu, he will need to leave that title blank to avoid being stripped by the sanctioning body.
