No Limit Boxing announced last night that their most famous charge, former super welterweight titlist Tim Tszyu, is set to challenge Erislandy Lara for the WBA middleweight title. James Cooney of Fox Sports AU claims this fight is “expected to take place in late November” with a “strong possibility” of landing in Gold Coast.
Lara (32-3-3, 19 KO), boxing’s oldest reigning champion at 43, recently entered 19th year as a professional. His surprisingly violent tenure has been short on major competition,
but that’s not entirely his fault; a hotly anticipated three-belt unification with Janibek Alimkhanuly fell apart last year after “Qazaq Style” tested positive for meldonium, forcing Lara to settle for a comfortable rout of Johan Gonzalez instead.
Tszyu (28-3, 18 KO) tentatively worked his way up to 160 after a 1-3 skid ended his super welterweight run, beating Anthony Velazquez and Denis Nurja before welcoming Errol Spence Jr back to the ring for the first time in three years with a wide decision win. It’s unclear whether he’ll ever regain his former form, but the man can still scrap, and there’s a chance these last few months have given him time to settle into his new approach.
When discussing Tszyu’s chances of reclaiming gold, Scott named Lara as the middle option among the division’s then-reigning trio of champions, more difficult than Denzel Bentley but more beatable than Carlos Adames. I’m inclined to agree; Lara’s still a sharpshooter with sneaky power in his left hand, but he’s been feasting on garbage for years and is over a decade older than Tszyu. This is doable, and more importantly for us, the sort of style matchup that’s historically produced the most watchable Lara fights. We’ll keep you posted.
