Tszyu hopes you laugh at outrageous fight claim

Roy Jones Jr became the first former middleweight champion in over 100 years to win a heavyweight title, defeating John Ruiz for the WBA belt via unanimous decision in 2003.

The boxing icon held the title but did not challenge for the heavyweight championship, with Lennox Lewis still considered the lineal and WBC heavyweight champion of the time.

However, the Florida-born legend’s ascent to the heaviest division didn’t come as a total shock, it was a natural progression sparked by his record success in the ring.

In 1998, Jones Jr was scheduled to fight former heavyweight champion James ‘Buster’ Douglas, the man who shocked the world with his 42-1 upset victory over heavyweight champ Mike Tyson eight years prior. However, his father, Roy Jones Sr, convinced his son to pull out, citing the risk of such an endeavour at that point of his career.

After holding the middleweight and super middleweight titles, Jones decided to stay put at light heavyweight, pulling off eleven defences of his unified title over a five-year period, before finally taking a shot at Ruiz’s WBA strap.

With 100 days to go before Tszyu’s chance at becoming just the ninth undisputed champion in the four-belt era against champion Jermell Charlo in Las Vegas, the undefeated Sydney fighter understands his 10-year plan to become the first to win titles from super welterweight to heavyweight, can only be fast-tracked if he takes Charlo’s IBF, WBC, WBA and WBO super-welterweight straps on January 29.

Tszyu currently fights at the super-welterweight limit of 69.85kg, and would need to move up more than 20kg in weight over a 10-year period to pursue his goal.

While some may doubt Tszyu’s long-term vision, it’s not as unrealistic as you may think.

Over the course of 10 years, there’s every chance Tszyu will grow into his body more, making it even harder to cut weight.

But to challenge for belts in higher weight divisions, winning must be a key ingredient. If Tszyu beats Charlo and proves he can defend the belts, then his case to move up cannot be denied.

“Setting goals that people laugh at, that’s the thing you’ve gotta have,” Tszyu told Wide World of Sports.

“That end goal to keep pushing yourself is what I need. My main focus right now is Charlo and undisputed championship we can think about that later on.”

Tszyu has often spoken of the arduous nature of cutting weight and the impact it has on his body and mind ahead of fights. But the WBO’s No.1 contender says there are other factors at play.

“It really depends on the fights as well. I need fights that will give me that vibe, that buzz,” he added.

“A fight that will get me up in the morning. There’s a few fights in the super welterweight division, we’ll see.

“But you know there’s big fights at middleweight, Triple-G(Gennady Golovkin) for example, and then there’s Canelo (Alvarez) at super middleweight, so there’s big fights everywhere. They are the type of fights that I will look at eventually after this fight.

“It’s one thing getting to the top and being undisputed it’s another thing staying up there and defending it and taking it to that next level. Charlo just won all his belts and I’m the first one in line to take them all.”

The 21-0 star has already held a training camp in Phuket, Thailand, sweating up a storm alongside MMA fighters Darren Till and Petr Yan, and will make his second trip to “the jungle” in the coming weeks.

Tszyu will then give himself plenty of time to acclimatise to the US conditions when he travels to Los Angeles in late November for more training, before moving to Las Vegas five or so weeks out from the biggest fight of his life.

For a daily dose of the best of the breaking news and exclusive content from Wide World of Sports, subscribe to our newsletter by clicking here!

A look back at every fight to date from Australian boxing star Tim Tszyu