By Allan Fox: Unbeaten IBF junior middleweight champion Jermall Charlo (24-0, 18 KOs) and his undefeated #1 IBF challenger Julian “J-Rock” Williams (22-0-1, 14 KOs) could be facing each other in December due to the fight being pushed back because of an eye problem for the young 26-year-old Charlo, according to Ring TV. They had previously been looking to face each other in October, but the eye injury will require that the fight get pushed back two months to December. Hopefully, there won’t be any issues that will extend it even further.
Charlo might be better off giving up his International Boxing Federation 154lb title and moving up in weight to middleweight, because I think he needs to move up at this point in his career.
Charlo looked huge for a junior middleweight in beating Austin Trout in his last fight by a grueling 12 round decision last May in Las Vegas, Nevada. If Charlo is having a hard time making the 154lb limit like a lot of boxing fans think he is, then he needs to consider moving up in weight and going after one of the champions in the 160lb division like Billy Joe Saunders, Daniel Jacobs or Gennady “GGG” Golovkin.
It would obviously take some time for Charlo to get ranked high enough to get a title shot against Jacobs or Saunders, but I think it would be better for him to make that move now rather than later on after he loses a fight at 154lb due to him being weakened from draining down to that weight class.
It’s obviously going to take a while for Charlo to get a crack at a title against Jacobs or Saunders, because I can’t see either of them giving him a title shot unless they were literally forced to by one of the sanctioning bodies. Charlo is too big, he hits too hard, and he’s too dangerous for him to be just given a title shot by Saunders or Jacobs.
“I haven’t heard anything,” said IBF Championship Chairman Tucker to Ringtv.com about Charlo possibly giving up his IBF junior middleweight title. “We haven’t heard anything from anybody that he wasn’t planning on defending the title.”
If Charlo takes the fight and loses to Williams due to him being drained from making weight, then I see that as being the catalyst for him finally making the move to go up in weight to the 160lb division. Charlo’s brother Jermell Charlo holds the WBC junior middleweight title. He’s also a very big fighter for the division. He might need to consider making the move up to the middleweight division as well if he starts having problems making weight.
Jermall really gassed out after six rounds in his last fight against Trout. That fight was a clear sign that Charlo might be having problems with the weight at 154. When you see a fighter gas out as badly as Charlo did after six rounds, it suggests that it’s time that they move up in weight so that they have more energy to fight.