Tim Tszyu over takes Spike O’Sullivan and moves into Teixeira world title pole

It looks like Australian light middleweight Tim Tszyu may get a shot at WBO light middleweight world champion Patrick Teixeira before Gary ‘Spike’ O’Sullivan.

O’Sullivan and the Brazilian world title holder have been linked throughout the summer. The light middleweights have exchanged words and the champion was more than open to making the Cork fighter ‘swallow that moustache’ .

With both being Golden Boy aligned it also appeared an easy fight to make and was rumoured as an Canelo Alvarez undercard clash.

However, according to Tszyu’s people they are in world title shot pole.

Tszyu, who has also been linked to Dennis Hogan, rose to #2 in the WBO when after defeating Jeff Horn on August 26. His team have since contacted Golden Boy with regard to making a Teixeira fight – and an application has been made to the governing body.

“All parties are very interested in making this fight happen – Teixeira’s promoters (Golden Boy Promotions) want to see him back in the ring defending his belt as soon as possible and the WBO is obviously in the business of keeping their champions active,” says Tszyu’s promoter Matt Rose.

“There’s a few hurdles to get over but it’s looking good and it could all happen very quickly, plus it helps that the world just saw a big crowd at our event in Townsville.”

The fight is being planned for Australia with Brazil and the US both currently in the grip of the virus. It appears Australian based fighters may now benefit massively from the fact the are allowed open the doors to the public.

“Ultimately we have asked the WBO to grant the champion (Teixeira) a ‘voluntary’ defence given that it looks increasingly unlikely he’ll be able to fight his ‘mandatory’ before the end of the year,” says Rose.

“Australia is a very enticing prospect for everybody involved as unlike the US, Brazil or Argentina we can have crowds at boxing events right now and the restrictions on crowd numbers are being eased.”

Australia’s attractiveness is something Hogan, who was very harshly treated when challenging for the title in Mexico last year,could benefit from.

It’s quite possible he could tempt a big name to Australia if DDP felt Stadium show ready. Although the divisions two other champions Jeison Rosario and Jermell Charlo meet in a three belt unification clash later this month.