Brock Jarvis gets the green light from Bob Arum for a world title fight in Australia

They are two of our brightest stars. But when it comes to who gets the first world title shot, Brock Jarvis has been handed a boost over Tim Tszyu.

Promoter Bob Arum. Picture: Getty Images

Rising boxing star Brock Jarvis is set to beat Tim Tszyu to a world title shot after powerful US promoter Bob Arum confirmed he wants to bring the featherweight champion to Australia for a showdown mid-year.

Jarvis (18-0, 16KO) and Tszyu (18-0, 14KO) are the two most promising fighters emerging from Australia and both are destined for world title fights in future, joining George Kambosos who fights for the unified lightweight title against champion Teofimo Lopez in June in Miami.

Arum hopes to bring a featherweight world title fight to Australia, an event that would propel Jarvis to superstardom.

WBO featherweight champion Emanuel Navarrete (32-1, 27KO) defends his belt against Chris Diaz (26-2, 16KO) in the US on April 24. Jarvis fights Nort Beauchamp on April 23, and should he win, Arum wants him to fight the winner of the Navarrete-Diaz title bout.

“I would be happy to go to Australia for that fight, particularly because we could do that event at 2pm on a Sunday, which would be broadcast in prime time (Saturday evening) in the US,” Arum told News Corp.

Watch Paul Gallen v Lucas Browne only on Main Event on Wednesday 21 April at 7pm AEST. ORDER NOW >

Brock Jarvis is set to beat Tim Tszyu to a world title shot. Picture: AAP Images

“We did that when Manny Pacquiao fought Jeff Horn in Brisbane and it got five million views so it was a tremendous success.

“Jarvis is a good fighter and certainly looks like an appealing kid.”

Tszyu destroyed former world title challenger Dennis Hogan in five rounds last Wednesday and is the WBO No.1 contender in the super-welterweight division. However, he is likely to have to wait for his title shot as WBO champion Brian Castano negotiates a unification bout against WBC, WBA and IBF champion Jermell Charlo.

“Tszyu looks great, I watched his fight against Hogan and I would like to make a fight with him, it looks like Castano is negotiating the unification with Charlo so I’ll keep my eye on that situation,” Arum said.

Should Tszyu be forced to wait, Jarvis can swoop in for his chance to become world champion by July.

However, there remains one stumbling block to hosting the fight in Australia.

“If the fighters, trainers, the ESPN commentary team, and anyone else travelling from the US to Australia has to quarantine, I can’t see how it goes ahead,” Arum said.

“They’re rolling out the COVID vaccines here and by May they expect 70 per cent of Americans to be fully vaccinated, so I hope Australia would allow everyone who is fully vaccinated to enter without having to quarantine.”

Brock Jarvis with Jeff Fenech. Picture: Sam Ruttyn

At present, the Federal Government has not changed its border policy, and overseas visitors who have received vaccinations must still quarantine for 14 days.

If that stance remains firm over the coming three months, Arum is open to having Jarvis fight for the world title in the US.

“That is certainly a way we could go,” said Top Rank boss Arum, who promotes both Navarrete and Diaz.

That is music to the ears of Jarvis.

“I will fight for the title anywhere, I don’t think it makes a difference where you fight,” Jarvis said.

“I know it’s close, but I’m not getting carried away. I’ve got a very tough fight coming up in three weeks and my entire focus is on that.”

Jarvis’ trainer, Jeff Fenech, praised the 23-year-old’s willingness to fight someone of the caliber of Navarrete, who is ranked No.6 by The Ring Magazine in the featherweight division and whose only loss nine years ago was technically ruled in his favour because his opponent did not weigh in.

“I asked Brock which champion he wanted to fight and he said ‘Navarrete’, he’s beaten everybody and Brock wants to fight him,’ Fenech said.

“Credit to Brock, he watched a lot of video and said he thinks he can beat him, and the more I looked at it, the more I thought, ‘He’s right’.

“It will be his toughest fight by a million miles but I back him, nobody works harder than Brock.”

Originally published as Brock Jarvis gets the green light from Bob Arum for a world title fight in Australia