Terrence Crawford vs. Tim Tszyu reportedly is within the works.
Crawford, the 147-pound champion and pound-for-pound king, and the WBO 154-pound titleholder from Australia are in superior talks for a showdown, Fox Sports activities Australia is reporting.
If Tszyu defeats Sebastian Fundora to retain his belt and win the vacant WBC title on pay-per-view Saturday in Las Vegas, his staff will instantly enter negotiations to finalize the struggle.
The bout presumably would happen in the summertime, nearly actually in the US.
Tszyu’s supervisor, Glen Jennings, was requested in Las Vegas whether or not Crawford’s handlers have reached out to him. He responded, “Sure, they’ve.”
Jennings believes the negotiation course of could be seamless on condition that the edges have been in touch for months, Fox reported. That included dialogue of a possible December struggle on the time Tszyu was making ready for his Oct. 15 title protection in opposition to Brian Mendoza.
Tszyu (24-0, 17 KOs) simply outpointed Mendoza to retain his belt.
“I acquired a name from Crawford’s enterprise supervisor, who’s a buddy of mine … nevertheless it nonetheless got here out of the blue,” Jennings stated. “It was shortly earlier than the Mendoza struggle. And he simply got here out right away and stated, ‘Would you be keen on placing Tim within the ring with Terence?’.
“I stated, ‘In fact, we might.’ I then requested what time-frame they had been speaking about and he replied, ‘What about proper now?’ I used to be, ‘Ah, s—, sorry, no,’ as a result of we already had the Mendoza deal and I wasn’t going to upset our promoters in Australia or America [by pulling out of that fight].
“And who is aware of? Possibly they put out a name out to 6 fighters like that. However they undoubtedly reached out to me to see how fast we may take up the provide. It might’ve been for a struggle earlier than Christmas.
“However there was no means we may get it performed as a result of we already had what we knew was going to be a troublesome struggle developing in opposition to Mendoza. So we didn’t reject the struggle, however we had been already dedicated.
“I then left it between Terence’s individuals and (Tszyu’s promoter) No Restrict to maintain discussions open, and people talks have completely remained alive. They’ve been persevering with within the background, and it now seems there’s going to be a chance to make one thing occur.”
Additionally, Crawford, because the WBO welterweight champion, can declare obligatory challenger standing at junior middleweight instantly if he strikes up in weight.
Meaning Tszyu must defend his title in opposition to the smaller man if he needs to maintain it.
Crawford, a three-division champion, gained his first main title at 135 kilos however has been preventing at 147 since June 2018, which ought to make the transition to 154 comparatively straightforward.
“So instantly after that (Fundora) struggle, when every thing turns into official, we’ll go straight into negotiations to see what we are able to get performed,” Jennings stated. “In fact, Tim will even have a WBC obligatory, which clouds the state of affairs considerably.
“However clearly when Crawford comes into play, the complete boxing world sits up and takes discover.”
In fact, Crawford (40-0, 31 KOs) could be completely satisfied to face Fundora (20-1-1, 13 KOs) if the 6-foot-5½ slugger is ready to upset Tszyu. Fundora, who changed the injured Keith Thurman as Tszyu’s opponent, is a couple of 4½-1 underdog, which is a big unfold in boxing.
Crawford hasn’t fought since final July 29, when he destroyed Errol Spence Jr. in 9 rounds to unify all 4 147-pound titles.
