It seems that Jermell Charlo’s callout of Canelo Alvarez has backfired after the WBO’s latest announcement surrounding the winner between Tim Tszyu and Carlos Ocampo. The undisputed Super Welterweight champion will potentially be stripped if he doesn’t face the winner of the Tszyu-Ocampo fight by September 30, according to an official letter by the WBO itself.

In a letter to the teams of both Tim Tszyu (22-0, 16 KO’s) and Carlos Ocampo (34-2, 27 KO’s), it was made clear that the winner had to face the WBO Junior Middleweight champion by September 30th. The same therefore also applies to Jermell Charlo (35-1-1, 19 KO’s) who has had his match with WBO interim champion Tim Tszyu postponed after suffering an injury in December. Both fighters agreed to several conditions prior to their June 18 fight, including:

1. the winner must face in his next bout the WBO Jr. Middleweight Champion no later than September 30, 2023;
2. the winner must be available, ready, willing, and able to face in his next bout the WBO Jr. Middleweight Champion within the above referenced period;
3. if the winner is not available to fight in his next bout the WBO Jr. Middleweight Champion regardless the reasons or circumstances, the WBO World Championship Committee shall proceed pursuant to the WBO Regulations of World Championship Contests; and
4. the Committee reserves the right to issue all further rulings deemed necessary, helpful, and convenient to accomplish the purposes, policies, and intent of the WBO rules, including, but not limited to rendering all rulings necessary to serve the best interests in the sport of professional boxing, including those in the WBO Jr. Middleweight Division

Failure for the winner of Tszyu-Ocampo to fight Jermell Charlo before September 30th will likely then be stripped of their WBO interim title, and potentially another contender can then become available to fight Charlo instead.

While Tim Tszyu had previously alluded to fighting Jermell Charlo at the end of the year if he wins against Carlos Ocampo, the WBO’s announcement now sets up a fight date that is earlier than expected, and September 30 is the latest by which Tszyu may head into a mega-fight against Jermell Charlo for all his titles.

The letter, officially sent to both fighters’ parties on May 16th, follows Jermell Charlo openly calling out Canelo Alvarez (59-2-2, 39 KO’s) for an undisputed versus undisputed match, but the WBO has seemingly made short work of Charlo’s apparent plans as he is forced to fight by September 30 or risk losing his WBO title.

In the meantime, Tim Tszyu and Carlos Ocampo will be hard at work in training camp for the possibility to face Jermell Charlo not only for his WBO belt, but for all the rest of the major titles which includes The Ring’s lineal title that was made available during the rematch between him and Brian Castano (17-1-2, 12 KO’s).