Tim Tszyu vs Brian Mendoza Prediction: Outcome Won't Surprise Anyone

On October 15th in Australia, Tim Tszyu will make the first defense of his WBO light middleweight title. His opponent will be American boxer Brian Mendoza.

As soon as Charlo entered the ring against Canelo, he was stripped of the WBO featherweight belt. Jermell just chose a tougher confrontation instead of defending the title. And so Tszyu became champion without a fight.

Tim has yet to be defeated, but his opponents have almost always been below average. He has swept them and taken all sorts of belts, but the fans are not convinced - many still do not believe that he can become a real champion like his father.

And his last four wins say otherwise - two defenses against Takeshi Inoue and Terrell Gausha gave him mandatory challenger status. His two knockouts of the tough Tony Harrison and Carlos Ocampo have made him a real threat, and some hotheads have already started to talk about Tim as a contender for the unified title.

He’s got that drive in him. Again, it’s a tough challenge because when you’re training you’re thinking he’s training that hard, so you’ve gotta push that extra bit as well. He’s got a bit of momentum and confidence, so that always presents a touch challenge. And he’s got that underdog mentality, so I’m looking forward to a challenge like that. … I think this is [my] toughest challenge to date. I think his heart – if you’re ripping into him, he ain’t gonna quit. He’s built something of a warrior courage. That’s always tough.

Tim Tszyu

Brian has been beating obscure fighters his entire career, but last year was his real triumph. Three brutal knockouts of pretty tough guys had the boxing community looking in his direction.

Mendoza, of course, is not the opponent we dreamed of for Tszyu, but in his last bout, he surprised so much. Before the fight with Sebastian Fundora, he was an underdog, but he showed great boxing, took the Towering Inferno apart brick by brick, and took the WBC interim belt.

I’ve always said I want my performances to speak for me. I’m not a trash talker and I feel like the people that flip the switch a little too early and force it, it comes off corny. I think the reason I’ve been resonating with people is because I’m real. I’m myself, this is who you’re going to see on and off the camera, but on fight night I’m definitely a killer and I’m in there to hurt my opponent, there’s no friendliness in there.

Brian Mendoza

Tszyu is a favorite, but there's no reason to bury Mendoza prematurely. He can find a mistake in his opponent's defense and knock him out. He never rushes, looking for gaps and waiting for his chance. He works from the opponent, giving up the initiative and waiting in ambush.

It can relax the opponent and make him too confident, but the problem is that Tszyu understands all of this very well.

Nevertheless, he'll continue to press and press, and by the second half, he'll have worn Mendoza down. By then, the American will probably be thinking about surviving, not catching the punches. The trick is to ensure Tim doesn't get distracted in the first half, and he won't. There's too much at stake. The division is expecting a huge boost - the best boxer right now, Terence Crawford, is coming up here, Errol Spence is also expected here, and maybe Jermell Charlo will return.