Over the course of this buildup for undisputed 154-pound champion Jermell Charlo challenging undisputed super middleweight king Canelo Alvarez, Charlo has talked about moving back down from 168 pounds after their September 30 mega fight.
And that's enough evidence for Tim Tszyu, the mandatory WBO junior middleweight challenger, to point to and say that "Iron Man" isn't confident heading into the fight of his career against the face of boxing next month.
"He's already talking about coming down, which means that he already knows that he's going to lose to Canelo," Tszyu told Fight Hub TV during a recent interview.
Tszyu added that he's still down to fight Charlo after the latter has his bout with Alvarez.
Earlier this month, the WBO already announced that the moment Charlo is introduced in Las Vegas on Sept. 30 as the undisputed junior middleweight world champion that "his status and recognition as WBO champion is terminated." That's because he bypassed his mandatory challenge from Tszyu to move up two weight classes and dare to be great against Alvarez.
Tszyu earned the mandatory challenger spot by knocking Tony Harrison out in the ninth round of their fight this past March. Harrison represents the lone loss on Charlo's ledger, though it was a controversial decision and one that Charlo avenged with a knockout of Harrison nearly a year later in December 2019.