Tszyu's Manager: "Will Immediately Start Negotiations with Crawford"

The manager of WBO light middleweight (up to 69,85 kg) champion Tim Tszyu (24-0, 17 KOs), Glenn Jennings, spoke about negotiations with Terence Crawford (40-0, 31 KOs), the holder of the WBO, WBC, and WBA welterweight titles (up to 66,67 kg).

"Crawford's business manager, who happens to be a friend of mine, called me... It was quite unexpected, just before the fight with Mendoza. He just straight up asked, 'Would you be interested in putting Tim in the ring with Terence?'. I said, 'Of course, we would like that.' Then I asked about the timing they were considering, and he said, 'What about right now?'. I was like, 'Oh, crap, sorry, no.' Because we had already agreed with Mendoza, and I wasn't going to upset the promoters in Australia or America.

But who knows? Maybe they made the same offer to six fighters? But they definitely reached out to me to see how quickly we could accept the offer. It would have been a fight before Christmas. But we couldn't do it because we already had the fight against Mendoza. So, we didn't turn down the fight, but we were already committed.

Then I left it between Terence's people and No Limit to keep the negotiations open, and those talks remained alive. They were happening in the background, and now it seems there might be an opportunity to do something.

Moving up to light middleweight, Crawford automatically becomes the mandatory challenger for the WBO title. If Tim Tszyu retains his world champion title in his next fight, which he will, then Crawford becomes the mandatory challenger. So, right after this fight, when everything becomes official, we will start negotiations to see what we can do. Of course, Tim will also have a mandatory challenger for the WBC title, which complicates things a bit.

But obviously, when Crawford enters the picture, the whole boxing world sits up and takes notice. Tszyu vs. Crawford would be a huge fight. It would be a bout for two belts in the light middleweight division, and I think it will be in Australia. But I think Tim would like to have this fight in the States because it would be a major fight.

There are now talks about Tim Tszyu becoming a unified champion and having a fight with Terence Crawford," said Jennings.

Tim Tszyu's next fight is scheduled for March 30 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas (USA) against Sebastian Fundora, with Tszyu's WBO title and the vacant WBC belt at stake.

Terence Crawford last fought in July of the previous year, winning by technical knockout against Errol Spence Jr. (28-1, 22 KOs).