Terrence Crawford vs. Tim Tszyu reportedly is in the works.
Crawford, the 147-pound champion and pound-for-pound king, and the WBO 154-pound titleholder from Australia are in advanced talks for a showdown, Fox Sports 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 team will immediately enter negotiations to finalize the fight.
The bout presumably would take place in the summer, almost certainly in the United States.
Tszyu’s manager, Glen Jennings, was asked in Las Vegas whether Crawford’s handlers have reached out to him. He responded, “Yes, they have.”
Jennings believes the negotiation process would be seamless given that the sides have been in contact for months, Fox reported. That included discussion of a potential December fight at the time Tszyu was preparing for his Oct. 15 title defense against Brian Mendoza.
Tszyu (24-0, 17 KOs) easily outpointed Mendoza to retain his belt.
“I received a call from Crawford’s business manager, who is a friend of mine … but it still came out of the blue,” Jennings said. “It was shortly before the Mendoza fight. And he just came out straight away and said, ‘Would you be interested in putting Tim in the ring with Terence?’.
“I said, ‘Of course, we would.’ I then asked what time frame they were talking about and he replied, ‘What about right now?’ I was, ‘Ah, s—, sorry, no,’ because 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 knows? Maybe they put out a call out to six fighters like that. But they definitely reached out to me to see how quick we could take up the offer. It would’ve been for a fight before Christmas.
“But there was no way we could get it done because we already had what we knew was going to be a tough fight coming up against Mendoza. So we didn’t reject the fight, but we were already committed.
“I then left it between Terence’s people and (Tszyu’s promoter) No Limit to keep discussions open, and those talks have absolutely remained alive. They’ve been continuing in the background, and it now appears there is going to be an opportunity to make something happen.”
Also, Crawford, as the WBO welterweight champion, can claim mandatory challenger status at junior middleweight immediately if he moves up in weight.
That means Tszyu would have to defend his title against the smaller man if he wants to keep it.
Crawford, a three-division champion, won his first major title at 135 pounds but has been fighting at 147 since June 2018, which should make the transition to 154 relatively easy.
“So immediately after that (Fundora) fight, when everything becomes official, we’ll go straight into negotiations to see what we can get done,” Jennings said. “Of course, Tim will also have a WBC mandatory, which clouds the situation somewhat.
“But obviously when Crawford comes into play, the entire boxing world sits up and takes notice.”
Of course, Crawford (40-0, 31 KOs) would be happy to face Fundora (20-1-1, 13 KOs) if the 6-foot-5½ slugger is able to upset Tszyu. Fundora, who replaced the injured Keith Thurman as Tszyu’s opponent, is about a 4½-1 underdog, which is a significant spread in boxing.
Crawford hasn’t fought since last July 29, when he destroyed Errol Spence Jr. in nine rounds to unify all four 147-pound titles.
[lawrence-related id=41147,41119,39356,38376,38369,38307]