Tszyu and Gausha were scheduled to meet this past Saturday as the co-feature of the undisputed junior middleweight title rematch between Jermell Charlo and Brian Castano. But in February, Castano injured his bicep and was forced to bow out of the fight. The card was in limbo. Tszyu volunteered his services to move on from Gausha and instead take on Charlo on short notice. Charlo passed and decided to wait for Castano as they will now meet on May 14.
"Look, if Charlo wanted the show to go on, I was always ready to step in. That's not a problem," Tszyu told DAZN. "Give me two days. I would have been ready anyway. It is what it is. That's the thing in boxing. You just got to be ready all year round for any opportunity and jump on a straightaway."
Tszyu wants to make it clear that he doesn't blame Charlo for not accepting the offer but was only trying to save the show.
"I've got nothing to offer," Tszyu said. "It's a real risky fight for him. The Castano fight is for all the belts. They are fighting for all the glory, and that's everybody's dream is to fight for that."
It didn't take long for Tsyzu's team to get him a new fight date to face Gausha. Tszyu (20-0, 15 KOs) is used to staying active. He fought four times in 2018 and 2019, twice in 2020, and three times in 2021. So the 27-year-old didn't want to sit around and wait for the Charlo-Castano rematch because he didn't want a scenario in which he could possibly have been out of the ring for a more extended period of time, if one of them got injured again.
"I'm a busy fighter, and I try to keep myself busy all the time and fighting three, four times a year. That's my main thing," Tszyu admits. "Even through all this COVID time, a lot of people took a lot of this time off and didn't have fights. Inactivity is what causes problems. For myself, I just kept staying busy. We did great things up in Australia. For myself, I want to grow as a fighter and grow as an individual, and that's what I keep doing and keep fighting whoever's in front of me."
Tszyu is currently ranked No. 1 by the WBO. A win on Saturday over Gausha keeps him in that position and set to challenge the winner of Charlo-Castano.
Tszyu feels Castano gets the job done the second time around. While there's no promise or loose agreement Tszyu would challenge the winner, it doesn't matter to him because no matter what, he's fighting for a world title if victorious this weekend.
"I think the WBO has mandated it," Tszyu said. "I'm fighting for the WBO title next. So whatever happens, happens. If the boys want to punch on, then you know I'm always keen to punch on."