Brian Mendoza Says Tim Tszyu Took Control In Second Half Of Fight

By Matt Lieberman: Brian Mendoza (22-3, 16 KOs) feels that WBO junior middleweight champion Tim Tszyu (24-0, 17 KOs) took control over the fight with the adjustments he made and cruised to victory with his twelve round unanimous decision on Saturday night at the Gold Coast Convention Centre, Broadbeach in Queensland, Australia.

Mendoza says that he was doing well against Tszyu in the first half, but Tim found his rhythm in the second half, and that enabled him to dominate.

Mostly, it looked like Mendoza was tired from the pace that Tszyu was pushing, and it caused him to lose his energy after the fifth.

You could tell from watching the 29-year-old Mendoza that he was laboring, and he didn’t regain his energy until the twelfth round. By then, it was too late because Mendoza had given away too many rounds from six through eleven.

The scores were 116-112, 116-111, and 117-111. Those were generous scores, as it looked like Tszyu won every round in the second half apart from the twelfth, and that was when he took his foot off the accelerator to ensure he didn’t get clipped.

Tszyu took control in the second half

“I felt close until the second half. That’s when he started finding his rhythm more than mine. I let him get a little too much momentum, and that’s the way it played out,” said Brian Mendoza at the post-fight press conference, discussing what went wrong in his loss to WBO junior middleweight champion Tim Tszyu.

“We were throwing bombs. I told you. I’m going to go out on my shield every time. You got to kill me to get me out of there, and I feel I showed that tonight. Some of the things he said during the build-up, I kind of thought he was going to wait until I faded in the second half.

“I clawed my way back from a loss before, and I’ll do it again. I definitely got a lot of adjustments to make and fine-tune. We keep building off this. It doesn’t stop anything.

“I’m going to be back in the gym right away. I’m hungry already. There are some things I need to fix. A lot of it was what I expected, but he was able to get his game plan going, and it was sharper than mine.

“His reaction and timing. That’s the thing. I was able to let him get too much momentum, and he was able to do that. With the crowd, I knew there was going to be a lot of hostility, but I fed off that energy tonight.

“That’s what helped me dig deep in those later rounds in the second half and keep doing. I still love this country.  It’s beautiful. None of that changes. I appreciate everyone who showed me love and support while I was here.

Mendoza wants rematch with Tszyu

“I felt good and healthy in making the weight at 154. I’m not going to take it back now. I came here at 110% and did everything I could. We’re going to go back and keep improving.

“Nothing changes. I still want to be a world champion. I’m not going to end up being a gatekeeper. I’m here to win, I’m a winner. I think you guys saw that. We’re going to keep building. This doesn’t stop.

“Of course,” said Mendoza when asked if he’d like a rematch with Tszyu. “Have I ever shown fear? Have I ever shown that I’ve been ducking anybody? I still want the get-back with other fights and this fight. Obviously, I need to earn that. I was beat tonight flat out.

“Point blank, period, he was the better man, so I’ll claw my way back and earn my shot,” said Mendoza.