'Not up to it': Anthony Mundine's big title warning to Tim Tszyu

Retired Aussie boxing great Anthony Mundine has warned Tim Tszyu that he's not yet ready for a title fight, despite the 27-year-old's impressive win on his United States debut on Sunday (AEDT).

Tszyu extended his undefeated record to 21-0 and retained the No.1 WBO super-welterweight ranking with a unanimous points decision over former Olympian Terrell Gausha in Minneapolis.

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But the ailing Australian - suffering from the flu - had to recover from a first-round knockdown to keep his world title dream alive.

It was a brave but relatively convincing performance from Tszyu that critics nevertheless claimed raised several "question marks" for the Aussie fighter.

Tszyu is now in line to fight the winner of the super welterweight division's unified title fight between Brian Castano and Jermell Charlo.

American Charlo holds the WBC, IBF and WBA super welterweight titles, while Argentina's Castano is the WBO champion, with the pair to duke it out on May 14.

Mundine - himself a former middleweight and super middleweight world champion - says Tszyu would be wiser to get some more bouts under his belt in the USA, rather than rush into a title fight against either Charlo or Castano.

“It’s a bit premature for him (Tszyu) to be fighting Charlo or Castano,” Mundine said.

“I don’t think he’s up to it yet. It’s a big step up in class. He made some mistakes (against Gausha) and he needs to learn from them.

“He should have another three, four, five fights in America after tough opponents before fighting for the world title.

“He’s still got to work on his craft.”

Tszyu admits that he still has "everything" to learn after suffering the first round scare in an ultimately successful foray into the notoriously brutal American boxing market.

"Oh man, there's definitely some shit thoughts going through your head," he told Fox Sports' Main Event after being floored by a stunning right-hand blow to his head.

"That's a great lesson for myself; I got back up and I dug deep."

Asked what he still had to learn before hopefully facing the winner of the rematch between Charlo and Castano in the unified mega-fight, Tszyu said: "Everything".

"Everything and anything. There's a lot more to learn. This sport, there's so much to learn.

"You've got to keep going, keep training hard and keep on improving and keep fighting warriors like Terrell Gausha."

Title fight a big step up in class for Tim Tszyu

Commentating from ringside, Australian boxing legend Jeff Fenech, agreed that Tszyu will need to address some weaknesses to be ready for Charlo or Castano after Gausha exposed the 27-year-old's defences with a series of big right hands.

"The performance was great," Fenech said.

"But there were so many different things that I've seen today that he can fix.

"He wasn't slipping to the side, making the jab miss and coming over with the right hand. He was trying to go straight through it.

"He was leading with the left hook, which left him open for the straight right hand.

"And the biggest thing was those pity-pat punches, where he was trying to set one big one up. instead of just getting to the side and working the body and then coming up."

Explaining his sluggishness, Tszyu said he'd been sick since arriving in the US almost a month ago, but didn't want to let on.

"Two days before the fight, I was coughing like a dog. Weight was a problem as well," he said.

"It was horrible. I couldn't breathe. Even now, it's still in my lungs.

"Yeah, for the first two weeks I was here in America, I was trying to drink water, trying not to show it.

"I didn't want no media finding out and having excuses and shit like that."

But he vowed to be ready for Charlo or Castano, challenging the winner to take the fight against him.

with AAP

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