Young Yoenis Tellez makes case for a title shot

He’s young—24—and inexperienced. He has had less than 10 fights, but he is knocking on the door of a world title shot.

Saturday night, live from the Caribe Royale Resort in Orlando, Florida, undefeated junior middleweight contender Yoenis Tellez scored a TKO 7 over rugged 38-fight veteran Johan Gonzalez.

The fight was on the undercard of the main event between IBF junior middleweight champion Bakhram Murtazaliev and former WBO champ Tim Tszyu. (A surprise to many, Tszyu was dropped numerous times and stopped in the 3rd round).

Tellez moved to 9-0 (7 KOs) but is already getting title talk despite having less than 10 fights. While he was the favorite going into the fight, stopping Gonzalez was no small feat with the tough Venezuelan having only being stopped 1 time before, and sported an almost 90% KO ratio.

For a guy with single digit wins, this was a significant step up.

Tellez, who is trained by one of boxing’s very best in Houston’s Ronnie Shields, knew he had to be patient, listen to Shields, and break down the veteran Gonzalez.

Tellez showed good patience and strong finishing skills. He worked off a strong jab with counter hooks and right crosses. And, when he got Gonzalez hurt, he moved in to finish the job.

Impressive stuff.

“I knew it was not gonna be easy,” Tellez said. “I was listening to the instructions in my corner and did the best I could to get the win.”

While every young fighter dreams of a world title, Santiago de Cuba, Cuba native Tellez is fueled by his pride of country.

“The most important weapon I have is the will to become world champion and the motivation to make my country proud. Ever since I left my country, I’ve wanted to win for them”, said Tellez after the fight. “I’m here to fight and let my team take care of getting me big opportunities and great opponents. I’m willing to fight anybody.”