Tim Tszyu is in uncharted territory.
The 28-year-old super welterweight phenom (23-0, 17 KOs) has long desired it, and though a bit anticlimactic, finally finds himself where he’s for years promised he belongs.
“I’ve always been the hunter,” Tszyu told The Post. “That mentality, when you start becoming the hunted, it changes.”
Previously the 154-pound division’s undisputed champion, Jermell Charlo was stripped of his WBO super welterweight belt the second he stepped in the ring on Sept. 30, when he reneged on his first undisputed title defense and instead moved up two divisions to unsuccessfully challenge Canelo Alvarez for the undisputed super middleweight title.
Though Tszyu, who is the son of boxing Hall of Famer Kostya Tszyu, didn’t beat any titleholder, Charlo’s decision subsequently gave him the WBO junior welterweight title, certainly not the way the Australian envisioned first becoming a world champion.
He quickly makes his first title defense Saturday night against Brian Mendoza (10:30 p.m., Showtime), in a 12-round bout at the Gold Coast Convention and Exhibition Centre in Tszyu’s native Australia.
Tszyu recognizes his new place in the division but claims it doesn’t “make any difference in my life at all,” at least until he’s able to defend it.
He still has much to hunt.
Or more specifically, someone.
“I feel that I’m on the other side, as if I’m the world title contender, going for the belt,” Tszyu said. “I want to feel that every time. I’m not satisfied with just one belt, I want all of them. But I really want the name Charlo. That’s the name I want on my resume. It’s simple. …
“While Charlo is still in there, still in the division, there’s a question mark on who’s the very best. All I can do is keep taking them all out one by one.”
After defeating Terrell Gausha in his American debut in March 2022, Tszyu earned the right to be Charlo’s next challenger for his undisputed super welterweight crown, and he made his intentions to soon dethrone Charlo clear.
But Charlo subsequently broke his hand in training, and Tszyu was forced to pivot to Tony Harrison in March.
He viciously ended Harrison’s night in the ninth round.
Tszyu again should have gotten an opportunity to fight Charlo, but the latter suffered a setback to his injury in training and again postponed their bout.
Tszyu again had to pivot, this time to Carlos Ocampo, whom Tszyu quickly pummeled to a first-round knockout.
Despite twice earning it, Tszyu once again saw Charlo avoid him for the undisputed super welterweight title, opting to sacrifice his WBO super welterweight belt for a much bigger-money fight two divisions up against Alvarez, and a chance to become undisputed in two weight classes.
Having only fought once outside of Australia or New Zealand, Tszyu is not yet a pay-per-view star, nor does he have nearly the draw of the legendary Alvarez, something he knows makes him a “high-risk opponent with little reward.”
Charlo was hardly competitive against Alvarez and was dominated before losing by unanimous decision.
“I think Charlo was scared,” Tszyu said. “He didn’t fight to win, he fought to survive, and the performance clearly showed. There was no competitiveness in him, there was no hunger, there was none of this ‘lions-only’ type of stuff he’s been talking about for such a long time. The only lion was Canelo in there. … He was gonna get a fight where if he loses, no problem, no worries. If he lost to me the other night, where does he go from there? That’s the situation that we’re in.”
Mendoza (22-2, 16 KOs) might not be the opponent Tszyu craved, but he’s certainly formidable.
He secured one of the biggest upsets of the year when he shockingly knocked out Sebastian Fundora in April and has never been stopped himself.
“I think Mendoza is a great opponent, tough challenger, he’s got a heart of gold, he’s always in there to fight, and he’s got some skills on him, so that always presents a big task,” Tszyu said. “But I don’t think much of Mendoza. I think, ‘What does he have to do to keep up with me?’ It’s not the other way around.
“I’m gonna dictate the pace, I’m gonna dictate the fight. I’m gonna be cautious of what he’s got, I’m gonna be aware of everything, but it’s ‘how is he gonna stand up to me?’ ”
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