Tim Tszyu and Terrell Gausha have been elevated to a “Showtime Championship Boxing” main event.
Their junior middleweight match initially was supposed to be the co-feature before the Brian Castano-Jermell Charlo rematch March 19 at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles. Once Castano suffered a slight tear to his right biceps while training, their second 154-pound title unification fight was postponed last month, likely until an undetermined date in May.
BoxingScene.com has learned that rather than having Tszyu and Gausha prolong their training camps and wait that long to fight, Premier Boxing Champions’ Al Haymon and Showtime’s Stephen Espinoza agreed to have them headline their own Showtime event March 26 at The Armory in Minneapolis.
Australia’s Tszyu (20-0, 15 KOs) is the WBO’s mandatory challenger for Castano’s championship. Handlers for the 27-year-old Tszyu, a son of former junior welterweight champ Kostya Tszyu, petitioned the WBO for medical documentation of Castano’s injury from an independent doctor because Tszyu’s mandated title shot is overdue.
Sebastian Contursi, Castano’s manager, agreed to provide proof that Argentina’s Castano suffered the aforementioned injury while preparing for his rematch with Houston’s Charlo.
Cleveland’s Gausha (22-2-1, 11 KOs) is the WBO’s 11th-ranked contender in the 154-pound division. The Tszyu-Gausha winner would be in position to fight the winner of the Charlo-Castano rematch in his following fight.
The Tszyu-Gausha show likely will include a 10-round junior middleweight bout in which highly touted Cuban prospect Yoelvis Gomez (5-0, 5 KOs) will meet Mexican veteran Jorge Cota (30-5, 27 KOs). BoxingScene.com reported last month that the Gomez-Cota contest would be part of the Charlo-Castano card, but it has shifted with the Tszyu-Gausha fight to March 26.
Castano, meanwhile, is still resting his right arm in hopes of encountering Charlo again in May. The unbeaten 32-year-old champion has maintained his conditioning, though, in hopes of facing Charlo once he takes off the prescribed four weeks from using his right arm while preparing.
Castano (17-0-2, 12 KOs) and Charlo (34-1-1, 18 KOs), who owns the IBF, WBA and WBC titles, settled for a controversial, 12-round split draw July 17 at AT&T Center in San Antonio.
New Jersey’s Steve Weisfeld scored Castano a 114-113 winner over Charlo. Nevada’s Tim Cheatham scored their back-and-forth fight a draw, 114-114.
Puerto Rico’s Nelson Vazquez scored what was a much closer contest 117-111 for Charlo, who somehow won nine rounds on Vazquez’s card. Even Charlo acknowledged that Vazquez scored their fight by too wide a distance for him.
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.