spanner in Tszyu-Ward works

By Paul Upham: While the prospect of a Kostya Tszyu vs Micky Ward fight for the undisputed junior welterweight title is very appealing, it may not come to fruition due to the demands of mandatory defences put on Tszyu and any undisputed champion holding the WBC, IBF and WBA world title belts.

The last mandatory defences for the WBC and IBF junior welterweight belts were made on the June 23 doubleheader this year featuring Kostya Tszyu (WBC) against Oktay Urkal and Zab Judah (IBF) against Allan Vester at the Mohegan Sun Casino in Connecticut. Therefore, the mandatory defences for the WBC and IBF belts are both due by June 2002.

The current No.1 contender for the WBC is Italy’s Gianluca Branco, 26-0-1 (10), who earned his top ranking by winning the European title in June. The IBF No.1 position is currently vacant and will be decided by an elimination bout between No.3 Ben Tackie and No.4 Teddy Reid.

After winning the WBA belt from Sharmba Mitchell in February 2001, Tszyu was subsequently declared a super champion by the WBA and only has to make a mandatory defence of his WBA super title every 18 months, which will be due in August 2002.

With Tszyu a WBA super champion, the WBA world title belt is currently vacant and could be filled by a bout between No.1 Hector Camacho Jr. and No.2 Diobelis Hurtado. The holder of the WBA belt would then be in line for a shot at Tszyu later in 2002.

All of this means that Kostya Tszyu owes three mandatories in 2002, which would leave no room for a fight with Ward or even a rematch with Judah.

Since defeating Zab Judah and becoming undisputed champion, Tszyu has reaffirmed his commitment to retaining all three titles and showed his intentions this year when he elected to make the mandatory defence of his WBC title against Urkal to ensure he was not stripped of the title before facing Judah in November.

Tszyu always insists on a 10-week preparation for every fight and has indicated since returning to Australia that he will not return to training until at least mid-January. That would mean that the earliest he could return to the ring would be in late March or early April.

Tszyu has not fought four bouts in a year since 1993 and his recent schedule, and the rumored new contract offered by Showtime, would most likely see him stick to three fights a year over the next two years.

As has been seen with undisputed light-heavyweight champion Roy Jones Jr over the last few years, the retaining of the WBC, WBA and IBF belts and undisputed title requires a constant procession of mandatory bouts which leaves little or no time for optional defences. Something that Tszyu and the world’s only other undisputed champion Bernard Hopkins will now see in 2002.


Paul Upham
Contributing Editor