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Unbeaten Super Welterweight Contender
Tim Tszyu Returns To Defend Interim WBO
Undefeated Australian superstar Tim Tszyu will return to the
ring and defend his Interim WBO 154-pound title against
Mexican contender Carlos Ocampo headlining action live on
SHOWTIME on Saturday, June 17 (Sunday, June 18 in Australia)
from the Gold Coast Convention and Exhibition Centre in
Broadbeach, Queensland, Australia in a Premier Boxing
Champions event.
The SHOWTIME BOXING INTERNATIONAL telecast begins at 10 p.m.
ET/7 p.m. PT and will also feature top super bantamweight
contender Ra’eese Aleem taking on undefeated Australian Sam
Goodman in an IBF 122-pound title eliminator in the co-main
event.
Tszyu will make the first defense of his interim belt after
capturing it in March on SHOWTIME with a career-best showing
in stopping former champion Tony Harrison. He had originally
been scheduled to face Undisputed Super Welterweight
Champion Jermell Charlo in Las Vegas in January, before
Charlo was forced to withdraw due to injury. With a victory
on June 17 in his home country, Tszyu can lock in a date
with Charlo later this year.
The event is promoted by No Limit Boxing and The Rose
Brothers, in association with TGB Promotions.
“Tim Tszyu has solidified his place near the top of the
super welterweight division and will once again bring his
fan-friendly style to the ring for fans in the U.S. watching
on SHOWTIME,” said Tom Brown, President of TGB Promotions.
“An experienced and hungry Carlos Ocampo will be coming to
Australia to upset Tszyu’s plans and disrupt his path toward
a long-awaited showdown with the 154-pound division’s
undisputed champion Jermell Charlo. Adding in top contender
Ra’eese Aleem taking on the rising Australian Sam Goodman,
and this shapes up to be a great doubleheader of action
fights on Saturday, June 17.”
The 28-year-old Tszyu (22-0, 16 KOs) has quickly climbed the
rankings in the 154-pound division with an all-action,
aggressive style. The notable names on his resume include
former welterweight champion Jeff Horn, whom Tszyu stopped
in round eight, and Terrell Gausha, a top contender and
member of the 2012 U.S. Olympic team. A native of Sydney,
Australia, Tszyu made his U.S. and SHOWTIME debut against
Gausha and showed his poise and toughness by rallying back
from a first-round knockdown to win the fight via unanimous
decision. Tszyu grew up playing soccer, but soon gravitated
toward boxing. The decision led to him following in the
legendary footsteps of his father, Kostya, who was an
undisputed 140-pound champion and who was inducted into the
International Boxing Hall of Fame in 2011.
“I was full training on Monday after the thing happened on
Saturday,” said Tszyu to Australian press in reference to a
dog bite on his right arm. “I’m not going to be limited at
all…There’s a dog in me right now that’s about to come out.
“I’m a fighter. My job is to fight. I won’t sit on the couch
and wait for [Jermell] Charlo’s hand to get better. I want
to fight in the meantime,” added Tszyu previously to the
Australian media about his announcement for his title
defense against Ocampo. “The fans deserve the fights…The
Charlo fight is in the making, but I’m not underestimating
Ocampo. I’ve got a hard task ahead of me.
“Technically, this fight is going to be much harder than my
previous fights. The Mexican style will require something
new in me and I expect it to be tough. Despite being
Australian and on the other side of the globe, I’m
headlining a fight on SHOWTIME for the third time. Is anyone
else doing that? Everyone knows I’m coming to take over.”
The 27-year-old Ocampo (34-2, 22 KOs) rode a 12-fight
winning streak into his last matchup, which saw him drop a
decision to 154-pound contender Sebastian Fundora last
October in a SHOWTIME main event. The 12 consecutive
triumphs dated back to the only other loss of his career,
which came to current unified welterweight champion Errol
Spence, Jr. in a 2016 knockout defeat. During the 12-fight
stretch, the Ensenda, Baja California, Mexico native scored
nine of those victories by stoppage, including traveling to
Mikael Zewski’s home country of Canada to stop the
fan-favorite by ninth-round TKO.
“I’m looking forward to my fight against Tim Tszyu,” said
Ocampo. “We are both warriors who go forward without fear.
The fans will be the true winners that night, because I’m
going after that title at all. Costs and it’s coming back to
Mexico with me. He won’t want to hand it over to me, so I’ll
just have to take it from him.”
Owning a top-10 ranking at 122-pounds from multiple
sanctioning bodies, Aleem (20-0, 12 KOs) put on the most
impressive performance of his career in January 2021,
dominating in a battle of unbeatens by dropping Victor
Pasillas four times before eventually stopping him in round
11. Raised in Michigan and training out of Las Vegas, the
32-year-old Aleem stopped seven-straight opponents before
most recently earning decisions over Eduardo Baez in
November 2021 and Mike Plania in September 2022. Aleem made
his SHOWTIME debut in February of 2020 with a fourth-round
stoppage of Adam Lopez on SHOBOX: The New Generation.
The 24-year-old Goodman (14-0, 7 KOs) scored a career-best
victory in his last outing, announcing himself as a
122-pound contender with a dominant unanimous decision
victory over former world champion T.J. Doheny in March.
After an impressive amateur career that included four
national championships and an appearance in the 2017 World
Amateur Championships, the Australian from Albion Park, New
South Wales turned pro in April 2018 and began compiling his
unbeaten record.
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