Tim Tszyu jokingly suggested that Jermell Charlo should move up from the junior middleweight division during his post-fight press conference Sunday.

All kidding aside, Tszyu is certain that Charlo takes him more seriously than the undisputed 154-pound champion took him when their fight was initially scheduled. The unbeaten Australian is confident that he would’ve beaten Charlo on January 28 had Charlo not suffered two fractures to his left hand in December, yet he realizes that his impressive back-to-back victories against Tony Harrison and Carlos Ocampo over the past three months have made their fight more appealing to the public.

“It doesn’t matter,” Tszyu said after his first-round knockout of Ocampo. “I think even in January I would’ve got the job done. It doesn’t really bother [me]. It’s good to have two fights in between, I guess, because the fight gets more interesting and interesting now, you know? I’m definitely that top dog just under him. He’s the man. I’ll give him that. He’s the man. And I’m just under.”

Sydney’s Tszyu (23-0, 17 KOs) and his team have been informed that his shot at Charlo’s IBF, WBA, WBC and WBO belts could be rescheduled for an undetermined date in October. Charlo’s hand is still healing, however, thus Tszyu and his handlers are still waiting for a firm date and site for their fight.

The 28-year-old Tszyu’s insistence on remaining as active as possible while Charlo recovers has paid dividends because he produced the most noteworthy win of his career against Harrison three months ago and tore through Ocampo in less than half a round Sunday afternoon at Gold Coast Convention & Exhibition Centre in Broadbeach, Australia.

The WBO interim junior middleweight champion overwhelmed Ocampo, whom Tszyu rocked with a right and then a left hook less than 40 seconds into their fight. Ocampo couldn’t recover because Tszyu unloaded a barrage of power punches on him, including an overhand right that dropped Ocampo to his gloves and knees exactly one minute into their 12-round fight.

Ocampo answered referee Danrex Tapdasan’s count at five, but his legs weren’t under him. Tszyu’s vicious left hook knocked Ocampo to the canvas again with 1:35 to go in the first round and Tapdasan immediately stopped their fight.

“I knew that he was gonna be easier to hit [than Harrison], but I knew he was a warrior and that he can take the shots,” Tszyu said. “But I didn’t think it was gonna happen that early, in all honesty.”

Tszyu dismissed a reporter’s contention during his post-fight press conference that Charlo has avoided him.

“Nah, he hasn’t been dodging,” Tszyu said. “He’s had an injury.”

Charlo (35-1-1, 19 KOs) was supposed to defend his four titles against Tszyu, the mandatory challenger for his WBO belt, almost five months ago.

The fractures that the Houston native sustained during a sparring session a few days before Christmas have taken longer to heal than expected. The delay at least enabled Tszyu to enhance his reputation with a ninth-round stoppage of Detroit’s Harrison (29-4-1, 21 KOs), the only opponent to beat Charlo, on March 12 in Sydney and, to a lesser degree, his demolition of Ocampo (35-3, 23 KOs).

Tszyu took particular pride in knocking out Ocampo faster than Errol Spence Jr. beat the Mexican veteran five years ago. The unbeaten Spence stopped Ocampo at the very end of the first round of their June 2018 fight for Spence’s IBF welterweight title at the Dallas Cowboys’ practice facility, Ford Center at The Star, in Frisco, Texas.

“I did it quicker than your boy, man,” Tszyu said of Spence when asked to deliver a message to Charlo during his post-fight interview in the ring. “So, come on, get your hand healing. Let’s dance. Let’s dance in October. No disrespect – let’s just dance. Me and you, best dancing partners we’ll be.”

Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for krikya360.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.