WBO junior middleweight champion Tim Tszyu believes Jermell Charlo fought “scared” last Saturday night, when he stepped in the ring with undisputed super middleweight champion Saul 'Canelo' Alvarez at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

Charlo, who holds the WBC, IBF, WBA titles at 154-pounds, was stripped of the title when he stepped in the ring with Canelo. Tszyu was elevated to full champion.

Tszyu will defend his belt against Brian Mendoza on October 15 in Australia (October 15 in the United States).

Charlo was dominated over twelve rounds and was down in the seventh round. 

Afterwards, he took several shots at Tszyu and constantly referred to him as 'Tim Ta-Zoo.'

“You know what, I think he’s that illiterate he can’t speak properly. You can try to make him say the word – Tszyu – but he can’t say it, the poor bloke," Tszyu told Fox Sports.

“It was a scared performance. I thought for what he said (prior to the bout), who he is, calling himself a lion, that wasn’t a lion performance. It wasn’t smart. Very defensive. He was in there to survive, not in there to win. First round. He never started to do anything. Even when s… wasn’t going good for him, when his coach was saying ‘man, you’re losing the fight, you have to press’, he still didn’t press. There was no ring control, he was just moving, running.

“I’ve seen it in a few of his fights. The first Castano fight, Charlo was on cruise control. I thought Castano won it. Then the second fight with Tony Harrison, if it wasn’t for Round 11 where he (Charlo) got him with the left hook, Harrison would have won that as well. I don’t see too much competitiveness in him, that willingness to risk it all and win.

“This part, the heart. That’s just my opinion [that he doesn't have it]. I don’t really see that savage. I’ve never really seen him as a savage. I’ve seen some world champions who are savage, you know? Beast mode. But I’ve never seen that in Charlo.”