By Dan Ambrose: World Boxing Council president Mauricio Sulaiman revealed that unbeaten #1 WBC Jermall Charlo (26-0, 20 KOs) could fight for the WBC interim middleweight title while he waits for the Saul Canelo Alvarez vs. Gennady “GGG” Golovkin rematch to take place in 2018.
The WBC ordered the rematch between Canelo and Golovkin this past week. Before that, Charlo had carved his spot as the WBC 160 lb. mandatory challenger by beating Jorge Sebastian Heiland by a 4th round knockout in a WBC middleweight title eliminator on July 29. Charlo, 27, is waiting for the WBC to order Golovkin to defend his WBC title against him.
Thus far, the WBC is waiting before they eventually make that move. They could order the fight in 2018. However, Canelo won’t have to worry about it, as he likely won’t fight for the WBC title when he faces GGG in the rematch. Canelo didn’t fight for the WBC title in his previous fight against Golovkin on September 16.
“Charlo is the mandatory contender,” said WBC president Mauricio Sulaiman to Fighthub. “We’re going to address his situation on Wednesday, and we’ll make certain his rights are preserved and he’s not hurt during this process. It’s a possibility,” said Sulaiman about Charlo fighting for the interim WBC middleweight title while he waits for the rematch between Canelo and Golovkin to take place. “Just like Gennady, he became interim champion and allowed the great fights to happen. It’s a possibility that could very well work that way,” said Sulaiman about Charlo fighting for the interim WBC belt.
If Charlo does fight for the WBC interim belt, he would likely face one of these guys in the WBC’s top 15:
• Matt Korobov
• Hugo Centeno Jr.
• Antonine Douglas
• Andy Lee
• Curtis Stevens
• David Lemieux
Andy Lee or Korobov would be excellent choices for Charlo to fight. Lemieux probably wouldn’t agree to face Charlo. He’s promoted by Golden Boy Promotions, and it’s not likely they would want to risk him against Charlo. Stevens was recently knocked out badly. I doubt that he’ll get the fight with Charlo.
Jacobs is ranked No.2 with the WBC, but I think it’s doubtful that he would agree to face a beast of a puncher like Charlo for the WBC interim belt.
Jacobs’ promoter Eddie Hearn will likely use his promotional muscle and the help of HBO Boxing to get him a crack at the winner of the Canelo vs. Golovkin fight without the need of working his way to the fight the way that Charlo must. Charlo has to do it the hard way by fighting his way to the spot. Jacobs has it easier, because he’s with Hearn and he has a multi-fight contract with HBO. They want to see Jacobs fight GGG again obviously.
Charlo is a tremendous talent with major power in either hand. Charlo is like a better version of Danny Jacobs in my view. Charlo, 6’0”, has the same size as Jacobs and has the same punching power. The difference between those 2 fighters is Charlo is more willing to go after his opponents to slug their lights out. He doesn’t hold back like Jacobs does. In a fight between Charlo and Jacobs, I would favor Charlo by a long shot. He wouldn’t wait. He would go after Jacobs immediately and likely stop him early the way Dmitry Pirog did.