Rising junior middleweight Tim Tszyu will put his WBO interim title on the line this Saturday when he faces former world title challenger Carlos Ocampo at the Gold Coast Convention Center in Broadbeach, Australia.

Tszyu, The Ring’s No. 1 ranked junior middleweight contender, is returning to the ring just three months after scoring a career best win over former titleholder Tony Harrison (TKO 9).

The 28-year-old son of former junior welterweight kingpin Kostya Tszyu was keen to stay active by facing the battle-tested Mexican.

“A tough challenge but nothing I’m not ready for,” Tszyu (22-0, 16 knockouts) told The Ring. “Staying sharp and getting ready for the big tasks ahead and just enjoying the whole process and evolving as a fighter.”

Tszyu could easily have basked in the Harrison victory and sat waiting for a date to face undisputed 154-pound titlist Jermell Charlo. However, Tszyu is build differently, he prefers to push the envelope.

“Be different, do things that most people don’t,” he said. “Risk it all, the bigger the risk the higher the reward.”

As soon as the Harrison win was in the books, Tszyu turned his attention to what was next.

“I started getting ready for Ocampo,” he said. “No breaks, no rest.”

Plans to face Ocampo were thrown up in the air when Tszyu visited a friend and was bitten by a dog. The injury was quite severe, requiring 26 stitches, on May 27.

The bite was inside the elbow bend of his right arm and needed surgery.

“Two pit bulls going at it,” he said, clearly relaxed about the incident. “I’m coming for Round 2, that’s the main thing!”

Victory should lead to a fall fight with Charlo, who last saw action when he stopped Brian Castano in May 2022. If Charlo isn’t able to fight then it is believed the WBO will strip him and made Tszyu up to full champion, if of course he beats Ocampo.

“I don’t understand him anyway, so it doesn’t make a difference,” said Tszyu. “I don’t care about titles; all I want is Charlo.”

Ocampo (35-2, 23 KOs) worked his way up on the Mexican circuit defeating the likes of Jhony Navarrete (UD 10), Jorge Paez Jr. (UD 10) and Daniel Echeverria (UD 10) and became the IBF mandatory challenger. However, none of that prepared him for Errol Spence Jr. and he was in for a rude awakening in his American debut when he was stopped in one-round.

The 27-year-old moved up to 154-pounds and has reeled off 12 consecutive wins, including an impressive win against Mikael Zewski (TKO 9) in Canada before losing to Sebastian Fundora (UD 12). He has since returned with a win.

This is a good fight for Tszyu to stay busy, Ocampo is solid and should provide rounds though I don’t feel he’ll be able to push the Australian. I expect Tszyu to get a stoppage in the later stages of the fight.

Tszyu-Ocampo will be broadcast on Showtime, beginning at 11:30 a.m ET/ 8:30 a.m PT.

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