Tim Tszyu v Brian Mendoza: From invisible man to Australian champion’s biggest threat

The only footage of Brian Mendoza’s knockout win from the undercard of Tim Tszyu’s American debut exists on a fan’s mobile phone. Fast-forward 18 months and all eyes will be on the super welterweight giant-killer.

Brian Mendoza only needs to think back to March 26, 2022 to realise how far he’s come.

That was the day Tim Tszyu made his American debut in Minneapolis with a unanimous decision win over Terrell Gausha.

But Mendoza was also on the fight card that night.

Back then Mendoza was just another hopeful, trudging away in anonymity and hoping for his shot at a big break.

His stocks were so low at the time that his fight against Benjamin Whittaker was designated as a ‘swing bout’, meaning it didn’t have an official slot on the card, but would be used if the broadcaster needed to fill airtime in the case of a few quick knockouts.

“You basically show up early, and wait,” Mendoza tells this masthead. “As a boxer it’s basically like being on call.

“If there’s knockouts early on, they throw you in, otherwise you just wait all night, so my hands were wrapped, shoes tied, and I had my suit on and everything.

“The worst part is the warming up, because you get going, get pumped up and ready then you have to sit around and wait another couple of hours.”

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Mendoza got his first glimpse of Tszyu up close when the Aussie fought Terrell Gausha (R) last year. Picture: Adam Bettcher/Getty Images

As it happened, all the fights ran long and Mendoza didn’t end up fighting until after the Tszyu-Gausha main event.

Most of the crowd had filed out the doors and the chairs were being packed away by the time he made his ring walk.

“Man, they were taking the lights down by the time I fought,” he says. “It felt like everyone just wanted to get out of there.

“Everyone was over it, it had been a long night.”

There’s no official broadcast footage of the fight, because all the cameras had been packed away.

“The only reason I have footage of that fight is because of a few fans that stayed after and recorded it on their phones,” he says.

“I did my job, I was able to get the knockout inside the distance, so although I got there late, I got the job done quick because I wanted to get out of there too.

“Then a little clip of it went viral.”

Mendoza rounded out his training camp in Sydney on Monday morning before flying to the Gold Coast. Pictures: No Limit Boxing/Gregg Porteous

Even then it wasn’t smooth sailing. Mendoza trained for seven months without getting a fight, and, with his funds running low, was just days away from getting a day job to make ends meet.

Then he received an offer to fight Jeison Rosario.

“My mentor was telling me, ‘Don’t get a job, don’t get a job, stay in the gym’, but I had no income for seven months,” he says. “Things just weren’t falling into line.

“Finally we got the call to fight Rosario, and my manager told me later he could hear in my voice how badly I wanted and needed that fight.”

An $8 underdog going in, Mendoza caused a massive boilover by stopping Rosario in the fifth round.

He repeated the dose as a $6 outsider by stunning Sebastian Fundora in April this year, which put him on a collision course with Tszyu.

Mendoza is hell bent on causing another massive upset. Pictures: No Limit Boxing/Gregg Porteous

The pair will fight for Tszyu’s WBO super-welterweight world title at the Gold Coast Convention Centre this Sunday.

As if his spot on Tszyu’s undercard wasn’t enough of a full circle moment, Mendoza revealed he used to watch all of Kostya Tszyu’s fights as a youngster.

“I wasn’t even really a big boxing fan, but my dad and all his friends love it, so we’d go out parties and watch all Kostya Tszyu’s fight,” Mendoza tells this masthead after putting the finishing touches on his training camp in Sydney. “Back then it was the Zab Judah era, and (Julio Cesar) Chavez as well.

“I just remember that whenever Kostya fought, it was a big deal, and now I’m travelling around the world to fight his son for a world title.

Kostya Tszyu (L) went into Zab Judah’s (R) backyard and caused a boilover, and Mendoza wants to do the same to Tim. Picture: Chris Farina/Corbis/Getty Images

“It’s crazy how the world turns. One day you’re at the bottom, you’re not getting any calls and everybody’s forgotten you, the next you’re on a big event fighting for a world title.”

After everything he’s fought through and overcome, Mendoza is fully confident of causing another upset win on Sunday.

“I have more one-punch knockouts,” he says. “Once (Tszyu) gets you, he’s a finisher, but I have more explosive shots.

“The thing about me is, I have power, but I don’t go in there looking for one shot. I can go 12 rounds.

“I want to put on a show, but I’m here to put punishment on him.”

Originally published as Tim Tszyu v Brian Mendoza: From invisible man to Australian champion’s biggest threat