WBO junior middleweight champion Tim Tszyu (24-0, 17 KOs) punished Brian Mendoza (22-3, 16 KOs), dishing out a bad beating in winning a twelve round unanimous decision on Saturday night at the Gold Coast Convention Centre in Broadbeach, Australia.
The scores were 116-111, 116-112, and 117-111. Mendoza hurt Tszyu with a body shot that had him pulling an Oleksandr Usyk, playing he’d been hit low, but the referee didn’t buy the theatrical performance from Tim and let the action go.
Tszyu had Mendoza on the brink of a stoppage in the 11th round, but he somehow made it through.
Brian Mendoza (22-2, 16 KOs) will be looking to carve his name as one of the big dogs in the 154-lb division tonight when he takes on unbeaten WBO junior middleweight champion Tim Tszyu on his home turf at the Gold Coast Convention Centre in Broadbeach, Australia.
Boxing 247 will provide live updates & results below of tonight’s action.
The oddsmaker’s favorite is Tszyu (23-0, 17 KOs), but that doesn’t mean much because Mendoza has upset his last two opponents with crushing knockouts.
Tszyu vs. Mendoza event will be shown on Showtime in the U.S. at 10:30 p.m. ET/7:30 p.m. PT.
Tonight’s undercard is filled from top to bottom with unknown local fighters who are unlikely to be recognized by fans outside of Australia. You can argue that Showtime should just slice them from the broadcast and focus solely on the highly anticipated Tszyu vs. Mendoza fight.
Tim Tszyu’s advantages tonight:
- Fighting at home in Australia
- Superior skills
- Experience against higher-level opposition
- Better defense
Tszyu still not #1 at 154
“It’s just that Tim Tszyu, you can argue, is until they fight each other hopefully at some point if he wins on Saturday, you’re talking about [Jermell] Charlo is still number one in the weight class, even though he coming off the one-sided loss to Canelo [Alvarez], but that was two weight classes North at 168 pounds,” said Dan Rafael to BET US, discussing Tim Tszyu’s fight with Brian Mendoza tonight.
Assuming Tszyu wins tonight, he still won’t be #1 at 154 until he beats Jermell Charlo because the top dog in the division right now.
If Jermell doesn’t return to his throne, Tszyu will still need to prove himself by beating Terence Crawford when he moves up to 154 soon. There’s also Errol Spence Jr, who will be moving up in weight as well and could be a threat.
“He [Jermell] says he plans to return to the junior middleweight division, but they’re the two best guys right now in the weight class, it seems to me, and this is another opportunity for Tszyu to continue to polish his resume,” said Rafael.
“Remember, he was supposed to fight Charlo back in January. The fight was canceled because of a hand injury. Charlo suffered a broken hand, and when it was supposed to be rescheduled, he wasn’t going to be ready by June.
“Then, when they were talking about still rescheduling, he ended up withdrawing because he got a humongous opportunity for way more money against Canelo. So you can’t really knock Charlo for that.
“So Tszyu was able to fight for the interim title. He’s defended it, and as you mentioned now, he’s the full title holder, given what the WBO ruled. This will be his official first defense, but he defended the title, the interim belt, earlier this year in a 70-second knockout against Carlos Ocampo.
“He won the interim title by a dominating knockout against Tony Harrison, who is a former WBC champion who’s the only guy that ever beat [Jermell] prior to Canelo, although he then lost in a rematch,” said Rafael.
Mendoza has a lot to overcome
“So I’m just thinking that the class is the difference here. Mendoza is traveling, Tszyu is at home in the comforts of the big fan base in Australia, and to me, this is by far, in a way, the toughest test that Mendoza will have faced,” said Rafael.
Mendoza has the power to win this fight, and it doesn’t matter that he’s not in the same class talent-wise as Tszyu. If Mendoza lands one of his big shots on the chin of Tszyu, he’ll go down, just as he did in his fight with Terrell Gausha in 2022.
If Mendoza is going to win tonight, he’ll probably need a knockout because he tends to give away a lot of rounds in his fights by not being active enough. Either way, it won’t be surprising if Tszyu wins every round up until the knockout, if there is one.
“To me, it’s not the toughest test that Tim Tszyu will have faced, and I think that Tim Tszyu, he says this is going to be his last fight in Australia for the time being,” said Rafael.
In terms of power, this is Tszyu’s toughest test because Mendoza is easily the biggest puncher Tim will have faced during his career.
“After this fight, he plans to come and fight more regularly in the United States, where he has fought previously. He’s going to make his base here now as he wants to get into the bigger fights and the bigger money.
“I just think, I’ve said this from the beginning, no disrespect to Mendoza, I think it’s a different level. Tim Tszyu runs through him and knocks him out,” said Rafael.
