WBC to order Canelo-Golovkin 2 winner to face Jermall Charlo

By Boxing News - 04/24/2018 - Comments

Image: WBC to order Canelo-Golovkin 2 winner to face Jermall Charlo

By Dan Ambrose: The World Boxing Council sent out a press release on Tuesday, stating that they’ll support the rematch between WBC middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin and Saul Canelo Alvarez later this year, but the winner of the fight will then be ordered by the organization to defend against WBC mandatory challenger Jermall Charlo after that.

The WBC saying they’re going to order the Canelo vs. Golovkin II winner to face Charlo (27-0, 21 KOs) doesn’t mean the fight will happen in 2018 or in the first half of 2019. Golovkin will likely look to unify the division by facing WBO middleweight champion Billy Joe Saunders in early 2019.

As for Canelo, if he beats Golovkin in September will will surely vacate the WBC title rather than defend it against a dangerous fighter like Jermall. The WBC alerting Canelo and Golovkin about their plans for the winner of their fight needing to fight Jermall next just means the title will either be vacated or frozen while the winner goes after Saunders.

Canelo has already vacated the WBC title in the past when he was ordered to defend against Golovkin. Canelo won’t want to fight Jermall because he’s a dangerous puncher with a lot of size, power, and speed and ring movement. Charlo is not a big name like Golovkin yet, so Canelo won’t be able to count on him bringing in a lot of boxing fans to come see him fight or pay to see the fight on PPV.

Charlo, 27, called out Golovkin last Saturday night after he knocked out #3 WBC Hugo Centeno Jr. (26-2, 14 KOs) in the 2nd round on Showtime Boxing at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.

If Golovkin wants to continue to be seen as the No.1 fighter at middleweight, then he’s going to need to fight Jermall in 2019, because that guy is starting to make a name for himself with his knockouts. Jermall has been impressing boxing fans since 2015 with his knockout wins over Cornelius Bundrage, Wilky Campfort, Julian ‘J-Rock’ Williams, and Jorge Sebatian Heiland. The only fighters Charlo hasn’t’ knocked out since 2015 were Michael Finney and Austin Trout. Those guys took a lot of shots in the process of going the full distance.

For Golovkin to continue to be viewed as the best fighter at 160, he’s going to need to beat these top middleweights:

• Saul Canelo Alvarez

• Jermall Charlo

• Sergiy Derevyanchenko

• Billy Joe Saunders

• Ryota Murata

• Daniel Jacobs

Those are the best of the bunch right now at 160. If Golovkin can spend the next two years beating those guys, then his legacy is going to look great when he eventually retires from the sport. Other than those guys, there’s nobody on the horizon that can worry Golovkin.