Junior middleweight contender Tim Tszyu will face Carlos Ocampo on Saturday (Sunday in Australia) with a showdown against Jermell Charlo on the horizon.
TIM TSZYU (22-0, 16 KOs) VS. CARLOS OCAMPO (35-2, 23 KOs)
- Date: Saturday, June 17 (Sunday in Australia)
- Time: 10 p.m. ET / 7 p.m. PT (12 p.m. AEST) (main event later in show)
- Where: Gold Coast Convention Centre, Broadbeach, Australia
- TV/Stream: Showtime
- Division: Junior middleweight (154 pounds)
- At stake: No major titles
- Odds: Tszyu 6½-1 favorite (average of multiple outlets)
- Also on the card: Ra’eese Aleem vs. Sam Goodman, junior featherweights; Justin Frost vs. Hassan Hamdan, junior welterweights
- Prediction: Tszyu KO 9
- Background: Tszyu hasn’t had the best stretch of his career. First, his Jan. 28 fight with undisputed 154-pound titleholder Jermell Charlo was postponed after Charlo broke his hand in sparring. And, second, he suffered a dog bite to his right foreman a few weeks ago that required surgery to repair and threatened his meeting with Campo. Things appear to be OK now, though. Tszyu is confident the fight with Charlo will take place in the fall. And he has been cleared to go through with the Ocampo fight. The son of Hall of Famer Kostya Tszyu is coming off impressive back-to-back victories over talented Americans, outpointing Terrell Gausha in March of last year and stopping former champ Tony Harrison in nine rounds this past March. Ocampo is a solid, well-schooled veteran. However, the Mexican fell flat in his two biggest fights. He was stopped by a body shot against titleholder Errol Spence Jr. in the first round in 2018. The Ensenada fighter then won 12 consecutive fights (all but two in Mexico) to earn a meeting with top contender Sebastian Fundora only to lose a wide decision last October. He last fought on March 25 in Guadalajara, stopping Mauricio Gutierrez Castor in five rounds.
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