Tim Tszyu will return to the ring for an IBF Junior middleweight title eliminator on Saturday, September 21 [Sept 22 in Australia].
The two potential opponents are Erickson Lubin and Jesus Ramos. Those are two fights for Tszyu (24-1, 17 KOs), who is coming off a twelve-round split decision defeat against Sebastian Fundora on March 30th in Las Vegas.
Tszyu, 29, suffered a deep scalp cut in that fight, and it’s been slowly healing. It’ll have been six months since Tszyu returned on September 22nd, so hopefully, that’s enough time for the cut to heal.
Ideally, a rematch with Fundora should have happened, but Sebastian is going in the direction of a money fight against Errol Spence Jr. in November. A rematch could happen for Tszyu if he’s victorious in his IBF title eliminator on September 22nd. Considering how many problems Fundora gave Tszyu, it might be better for him to forget about fighting him again.
Lubin (26-2, 18 KOs) is a risky fight for Tszyu to take after a loss like the one he suffered. It wasn’t just the cut that Tszyu dealt with against Fundora. He took a lot of punishment from the 6’5 1/2″ Fundora.
After that kind of fight, it’s not ideal for Tim to rush into a match against a puncher like Lubinson, 28, but it looks like he wants to capture a title as quickly as possible.
Jesus Ramos (21-1, 17 KOs) is the other tough option for Tszyu. He’s less likely to get the fight because he’s ranked #6 IBF, below Erickson Lubin. That would be a tough fight for Tszyu if he faced the 23-year-old Ramos because he can punch and is young.
Ramos’s only loss is a 12-round unanimous decision to Lubin last September. In that fight, Ramos failed to make adjustments and was outworked by Lubin. He didn’t perform well against Lubin at all and seemed overmatched.
