By Jim Dower: Jermall Charlo (26-0, 20 KOs) has confirmed that he’ll be back fighting again in March. His opponent is reportedly #4 WBC Hugo Centeno Jr. (26-1, 14 KOs). The two will be fighting for the interim WBC middleweight title on March 3 on Showtime Boxing.
Charlo, a former IBF junior middleweight champion, is waiting for a title shot against WBC champion Gennady ‘GGG’ Golovkin. The World Boxing Council won’t order Golovkin to defend against the winner of the Charlo vs. Centeno Jr. fight until after the Canelo-Golovkin 2 rematch is complete. Those 2 superstars are expected to face each other on May 5.
If Canelo and Golovkin do fight, then the winner of that match will face the winner of the Charlo-Centeno Jr. fight. However, Canelo wants nothing to do with the WBC title, and Golovkin is expected to fight for the WBO belt and then vacate all 4 of his belts if he wins that belt in order to move up to 168. As such, the Charlo-Centeno Jr. winner could become the WBC full middleweight champion very good before the end of the year.
“We’re looking to be back in March,” said Jermell Charlo about his brother Jermall. “We’re going to go back in March.”
Jermall, 27, is a big puncher with a lot of talent. He’s going to be the favorite against Centeno Jr. Last July, Charlo beat Jorge Sebastian Heiland by a 4th round knockout on July 29 in a WBC middleweight title eliminator to become the mandatory challenger to Golovkin. For whatever reason, Charlo’s management hasn’t kept him busy since that fight. Charlo has been out of the ring for the last 6 months.
Charlo will have been out of the ring for 8 months by the time he fights Centeno Jr. on March 3, and that’s if the fight takes place. You never know. It’s disappointing that Charlo will have lost 8 months of his career without fighting. Those gaps of lost time add when you start seeing a lot of them. It would be disappointing if Charlo fails to get the most out of his boxing career due to inactivity. Charlo is already waiting a long time for the WBC to order Golovkin to face him.
“We want them,” said Jermall about Canelo Alvarez and Gennady Golovkin.
Jermall can forget about Canelo fighting him. Canelo didn’t fight Charlo when he was down at 154 as the IBF champion, and I suspect he’s not going to fight him now that he’s at 160. Charlo is too dangerous for his own good.
“I want Canelo to go back down,” Jermell said. “I want Golden Boy to pull out the checkbook. My brother is going in March. Expect a knockout for him.”
If Canelo moves back down to junior middleweight, he’s probably going to fight at a catch-weight in the middleweight division at around 155 to 158. Canelo isn’t going to go after the Charlo brothers. That match-up goes against the way that Canelo has been matched during his career.
