The two were scheduled to meet for the undisputed light middleweight championship in January 2023, but Charlo withdrew after breaking his left hand. Their fight was never rescheduled, and Charlo instead moved up two divisions to challenge Canelo later that year.
“I talked to Al myself, and I’m fighting Tim next. Working on location,” Charlo told boxing reporter Lance Pugmire, as reported by Fox Sports Australia.
No fight has been announced, and Tszyu’s promoter, George Rose, has publicly favored a match with WBA middleweight champion Erislandy Lara.
Charlo has not won since stopping Brian Castano in their May 2022 rematch to become the undisputed champion at 154 pounds. Castano has not boxed since that defeat, which makes Charlo’s last victory feel even further removed from the present division.
Younger boxing fans may know Charlo mainly as the fighter who followed Canelo around the ring for 12 rounds without taking many chances. They may not remember the dangerous counterpuncher who knocked out Jeison Rosario, Tony Harrison, Erickson Lubin, and Castano during his championship years.
That version of Charlo was an elite fighter. Nobody knows how much of him remains after nearly three years outside the ring.
Tszyu already received a questionable amount of credit for beating Spence, a 36-year-old former welterweight champion returning from three years of inactivity. Moving directly from Spence to Charlo would make it look as if Tszyu’s middleweight campaign is being built around recognizable names whose best nights came in lower divisions.
Charlo is also 36 and has never competed at middleweight. His only fight above 154 pounds was the one-sided loss to Canelo at 168.
Tszyu against Charlo would have been an important fight in 2023. In 2026, it is mostly a nostalgia bout based on an old rivalry that never reached the ring.
There is money in the story, particularly if promoters package it as unfinished business and sell it on pay-per-view. Beyond that, it does little to establish Tszyu as one of the leading middleweights.
Tszyu said the move to 160 pounds made him stronger and ended the strain of reaching the light middleweight limit. If that is true, his next opponent should help prove it.
Carlos Adames, Aaron McKenna, and Denzel Bentley hold three of the four major middleweight titles. Lara owns the WBA belt, giving that option some sporting value despite his age. The division also has ranked contenders who are naturally accustomed to fighting 160-pound opponents.
Beating one of them would tell us something about Tszyu’s place at middleweight. Defeating another inactive name from the previous decade would only show that his promoters know how to sell memories.
