The boxer standing between Tim Tszyu and supremacy

Tim Tszyu was ringside and watched Jermell Charlo become the king of the super welterweight division. As a mandatory challenger, the Aussie is now ready for a piece of the unified champ. 

Jermell Charlo is the undisputed super welterweight champion and holds the WBO, IBF, WBC and WBA titles – one of the only unified champs in boxing in the four-belt era.

In the hotly anticipated rematch with Brian Castano, Charlo scored a 10th round knockout, the Argentinian’s first loss (20 fights).

Tim Tszyu is the mandatory challenger for the WBO belt and is the most likely to be in the other corner next time Charlo steps into the ring.

Jermell ‘Iron Man’ Charlo is one of the greatest super welterweight boxers ever and will no doubt be Tszyu’s toughest fight yet.

Charlo was destined for the boxing ring; his twin brother Jermall is the WBC middleweight champion and his father Kevin was an amateur boxer.

From a young age, the Charlo twins were in the gym refining their craft and it was only a matter of time for success to follow. 

As an amateur boxer and after only two years in the ring, Jermell won bronze at the 2005 Junior Olympics at the age of 15.

Charlo continued his impressive amateur boxing career and finished with a 56-8 record before turning professional as a 17-year-old in 2007.

Born in Louisiana and raised in Houston, Charlo began his professional career with a win over the previously unbeaten Corey Sommerville, followed by another win against Vito Gasparyan, which improved his record to 9-0 (4 KOs).

Charlo continued to build an impressive boxing record and had victories against Abdon Alonzo in 2009 and Luis Grajeda, who was 10-0-1 with seven knockouts, four of them in the first-round.

The 31-year-old had one of the biggest wins of his early career in 2013 when he scored an eighth-round knockout over previously once-beaten Harry Joe Yorgey.

In 2013, Charlo underwent laser eye surgery to correct incredibly poor eyesight in both eyes and was told by doctors he was close to being legally blind.

Another big milestone came in January 2014 when Charlo recorded a unanimous decision over two-time title challenger Gabriel Rosado.

In May 2016, the Charlo brothers created history when they both won world titles in the same division on the same card.

At the Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas, Jermell defeated John Jackson via an eighth-round stoppage to claim the WBC super welterweight title; while Jermall had a unanimous decision win over former titleholder Austin Trout to claim the IBF super welterweight belt.

Jermell continued his domination and defended his WBC super welterweight title with victories against Charles Hatley, Erickson Lubin and Austin Trout.

In December 2018, Charlo suffered the first loss of his career and his WBC title in a controversial unanimous decision loss to Tony Harrison.

The re-match took place twelve months later with Charlo winning by KO – dropping Harrison once in the second-round with a left hook and again in the 11th with another left hook. Harrison would hit the canvas twice more during the fight.

In September 2020, Charlo began to take over the super welterweight division when he defeated WBA and IBF champion Jeison Rosario via an eighth-round KO.

In July 2021, Charlo fought unbeaten WBO champion Brian Castano in a battle for the first ever undisputed super welterweight champion in the four-belt era. 

In an epic duel, the fight ended in a split-decision draw.

The re-match took place on May 14, 2022 as Tszyu watched ringside, with Charlo winning by KO and in the process he became the king of the super welterweight division with an impressive 35-1-1 record (19 KOs).

Tim Tszyu is the standout next opponent for Charlo. But with boxing, it’s never that simple.