The fight was close through six rounds with both fighters landing their share of strong punches but Tsyzu took over in the seventh round and wouldn't lose another one on my card.
Tsyzu wasn't able to knock the iron-chinned Mendoza down but he badly hurt Mendoza twice in the later rounds with only the courage of the challenger keeping him from falling to the mat.
Tsyzu won by scores of 116-111, 117-111, and 116-112 with my scorecard of 117-111 for Tszyu.
Tszyu called for WBA/WBC/IBF champion Jermell Charlo after the fight, who pulled out of a scheduled fight with Tszyu due to a hand injury and chose a larger payday against Canelo Alvarez rather than defend against Tsyzu, causing the WBO to strip Charlo and award their title to Tszyu.
Assuming that Charlo-Tsyzu isn't next, the field is wide open for the Australian's next fight, although Tszyu did say that his next fight would be in the United States.
Mendoza was the number two contender in the WBO before the fight and should Tszyu choose to fight the first or then-third contender in his next fight, Great Britain's Josh Kelly is rated first with Puerto Rico's talented prospect Xander Zayas at the third spot.
Zayas could be a future star and he looks to be very talented but his rating at third is laughable considering that he has fought just one scheduled ten-rounder thus far in his career.
Zayas is in no way ready for a Tszyu fight right now and Top Rank isn't going to risk a future headliner this soon against a fighter that would likely defeat him easily.
Kelly is a former Olympian and has notched some solid wins in his last few fights but was knocked out in his only loss by welterweight David Avanesyan in 2021, and I'm not sure if Tszyu wants to fight in the UK or if Kelly wants a shot at Tszyu quite yet.
Meanwhile, in Rosenberg, Texas, a suburb of Houston, arguably the least glamorous title unification ever was held with Janibek Alimkhanuly retaining his WBO middleweight title and taking away the IBF title from Vincent Gualtieri with a sixth-round knockout.
The less said about this the better as Alimkhanuly was stronger, faster, and better against the overwhelmed Gualtieri, who couldn't have any success against Alimkhanuly at all.
Alimkhanuly won the first five rounds with ease and when he hurt Gualtieri in the sixth, driving him into the ropes and firing punches that stung the German, referee David Fields ended the fight.
Could Gualtieri have continued? Perhaps but there was no point other than giving Gualtieri more punishment.
Alimkhanuly asked for fights against the remaining two champions, the WBA's Erislandy Lara and the WBC's Jermall Charlo but fights are unlikely against the chronically inactive pair as they fight for PBC and a fight against Alimkhanuly would be high-risk low reward with little financial gain, especially for Lara.
Boxing Challenge
Vince Samano: 108 Pts (0)
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