By Stanley White: Jermall Charlo (26-0, 20 KOs) has a warning message to Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez (49-1-2, 34 KOs) in letting him know that he’s coming for him, and that he’s getting older and slower. Jermall, 27, views Canelo as being older than him despite the two fighters being the same age at 27. However, Canelo has more ring mileage on him due to his long 13-year pro career and his grueling fight with Gennady ‘GGG’ Golovkin last September.
Canelo is about to fight Golovkin a second time on May 5th, and he’s likely going to take a lot of punishment in that fight from the Kazakhstan fighter.
Charlo is looking to lock himself in position to get a title shot at the WBC middleweight title in his next fight for the interim WBC 160 lb. title against Hugo Centeno Jr. (26-1, 14 KOs) on March 3 on the undercard of the Deontay Wilder vs. Luis Ortiz on Showtime Boxing at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.
What Charlo doesn’t know is if he wins the WBC middleweight title, he may be putting himself in a position where Canelo might choose to fight other guys instead of him. Canelo doesn’t fight for the WBC titles any longer after his experience with the WBC ordering him to fight Golovkin a couple of years ago when he was the WBC middleweight champion.
“I probably wouldn’t be the one to call the shots for where the fight would be at for a fight with GGG or a Canelo,” Jermall Charlo said to Tha Boxing Voice.“I’d fight them anywhere in the world. Canelo moved up and got a good jump start in the middleweight division. That’s fine because I was still getting my feet wet at 154 pounds. What’s up Canelo? I’m here, baby. I’m coming. You’re only getting older. Time is passing you by. I’m only getting stronger. I’m ready. I don’t want to be that guy that keeps hunting after somebody that’s not ready to step up, but when he does finally step up, it’ll be your fault. It’s about the money. It’s about the politics. It’s about what you bring to the table. I’m a high risk low reward for Canelo. I have my own fans. I fight for the people who believe in me. Canelo fights for people that don’t like him or do. I’m not with that. I really fight for people who believe in me. I will fight anywhere in the world, anywhere where there’s a Canelo, anywhere where there’s a GGG, anywhere where there’s a title. It doesn’t matter. I can adjust to anything. I can adjust to everything.
The 6’1” Charlo would have the reach and height advantage over Canelo if that fight happened. What makes it seem unlikely that Canelo would elect to fight Charlo is the reality that he didn’t fight him when the two of them were in the 154 lb. division. Canelo doesn’t pick his opponents, however. Golden Boy Promotions picks Canelo’s opponents, and they’ve chosen not to match him against Charlo for some reason. In the last 3 years, Golden Boy decided to veer around Charlo and match Canelo against James Kirkland, Julio Cesar Chavez Jr., Amir Khan, Alfredo Angulo, Erislandy Lara, Miguel Cotto, Liam Smith and Gennady Golovkin. Putting Canelo in with Cotto, Lara and Golovkin were good fights for Golden Boy. But choosing to match Canelo with Liam Smith, Angulo, Kirkland and Chavez Jr. looks like straight up cherry picking at its finest by Golden Boy. What makes it look really bad is how Golden Boy Promotions CEO Oscar De La Hoya told the boxing media in 2016 that Liam Smith was the best fighter in the 154 lb. division, and that was why he had decided to match Canelo against him. That comment from De La Hoya was laughable, and it made him and Golden Boy look like they were protecting Canelo from the top fighters at junior middleweight like Jermall and his brother Jermell Charlo.
Jermall says he would be willing to go to the UK to fight WBO middleweight champion Billy Joe Saunders for his title. Saunders, 28, has never mentioned wanting to fight Jermall, so he’s not going to consider fighting him unless the World Boxing Organization ranks him No.1 at 160. Jermall is ranked #4 by the WBO. However, with Jermall fighting for the WBC interim middleweight title against Hugo Centeno Jr. on March 3, he’ll probably be dropped by the WBO’s top 15 rankings once he wins that title.
”I will go to England. I will fight Billy Joe Saunders, and strip him of that belt,” Jermall said. ”Errol Spence did it. I want to follow those footsteps of the great. My little brother went there and did it. There’s only 1 way up in boxing, and that’s to fight the best and become the best in the world and that’s where we’re here for,” Charlo said.
Saunders might not last too much longer as the WBO champion. There’s a chance that he’ll fight Golovkin later this year. If GGG beats Canelo in their rematch, then Saunders is the next fighter he’ll be facing in going after him in a unification fight. Charlo is going to be waiting for a while until the Canelo vs. Golovkin fight is over with. The WBC can make his life easier by ordering the winner of the Canelo vs. Golovkin fight to face him. Without the WBC ordering the Golovkin-Charlo fight, it leaves Jermall in a paralyzed position where he can’t fight for the full title. Without Jermall having any big names on his resume, he can’t get fighters like Canelo and Daniel Jacobs to fight him.
