Jermall Charlo: I’ll KO everyone until Canelo or Golovkin have to face me

By Boxing News - 02/08/2018 - Comments

Image: Jermall Charlo: I’ll KO everyone until Canelo or Golovkin have to face me

By Allan Fox: Former junior middleweight champion Jermall Charlo (26-0, 20 KOs) says he’s going to knockout everybody until the top stars at middleweight Gennady ‘GGG’ Golovkin and Saul Canelo Alvarez are literally forced to fight him.

(Photo credit: Andrew Hemingway/SHOWTIME)

The first step in Charlo making Canelo and GGG fight him is his March 3rd battle for the interim WBC middleweight title against Hugo Centeno Jr. (26-1, 14 KOs) at the Barclays in New York. Charlo and Centeno Jr. will be the co-feature bout on the Deontay Wilder vs. Luis ‘King Kong’ Ortiz card on Showtime Boxing. It’s a great opportunity for the 27-year-old Charlo to showcase his talent, because there are going to be a lot of fans tuning in to watch the card due to ‘The Bronze Bomber’ Wilder facing Ortiz. Charlo has a chance to win over a lot of new fans with his performance if he can defeat Centeno Jr. and do a good job of it.

“My goal is to show everybody that I’m the best middleweight in the world. I’m going to keep fighting everyone they put in front of me,” Charlo said. ”I’m going to knock them out one-by-one until Canelo or Golovkin have to face me.”

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Charlo might not ever get a chance to fight Golovkin, because he’s likely going to spend the remainder of 2018 fighting Canelo twice, and then after that he could be battling WBO middleweight champion Billy Joe Saunders in a unification. If Golovkin loses to Canelo, the Mexican star will vacate the WBC 160 lb. title right away, because he wants nothing to do with the World Boxing Council belt. Canelo didn’t fight for the WBC title the last time he fought GGG, and it’s likely that he’ll continue to want nothing to do with them.

Some boxing fans think Canelo wants nothing to do with the WBC because it would mean that he would have to face the hulking 6’1” Charlo, who might be a size mismatch against the much shorter 5’8” Mexican star. It would be a hard fight for Canelo, and there’s no doubt about that. But by Canelo choosing not to fight for the WBC title, he doesn’t have to worry about Charlo. Only Golovkin has to worry about him, and that’s only if he beats Canelo in their fights in May and September of this year.

“Hugo Centeno Jr. is another fighter who is in my way. I know he’ll come in prepared, but I’m confident I’m going to walk out of there with the victory,” Charlo said.

The 26-year-old Centeno Jr. is seen as having no chance against Charlo by a lot of boxing fans. Centeno Jr. has looked good lately in his last 2 fights since losing badly to Maciej Sulecki by a 10th round knockout on June 18, 2016. That wasn’t just a knockout win by Sulecki. It was a total domination. Sulecki outclassed Centeno Jr. the entire fight. The knockout in the 10th was the end result of 9 rounds of one-way punishment Sulecki had inflicted upon Centeno Jr.

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Charlo is the same age as Canelo at 27. While Canelo is the one gets all the attention from the casual boxing fans of the sport, Charlo could be the one that takes over the middleweight division once Golovkin moves up in weight to 168 or retires. Charlo might be the one that takes the throne from Golovkin rather than Canelo. Charlo has his chance that he’s the next guy by making easy work of Centeno Jr. on March 3. This is Charlo’s chance to shine against Centeno Jr. to prove that he’s worthy of being mentioned in the same breath as Canelo and Triple G.

Charlo vacated his IBF 154 lb. title last year in February shortly after defending it for the final time in stopping Julian ‘J-Rock’ Williams in the 5th round in December 2016. Charlo had held the IBF title since 2015. He defended the IBF belt 3 times successfully in beating Wilky Campfort, Austin Trout and Julian Williams. It’s too bad Charlo didn’t stick around the junior middleweight division long enough to face Jarrett Hurd. That would have been an excellent fight.

“This is going to be a big year for me and my brother. We’re going to keep showing everyone why we’re so feared,” Charlo said.

Charlo will need to do a better job of beating Centeno Jr. than Sulecki did if he wants to receive full credit from the boxing fans. Sulecki made it look really easy in winning that fight. If Charlo is going to get the attention from boxing fans that he wants to, he’s going to need to obliterate Centeno Jr. and leave no doubt that he’s the next guy to take over the 160 lb. weight class. Centeno Jr. is a threat. he knocked out Immanuewel Aleem in 3 rounds in his last fight in August of last year. Aleem was someone that a lot of boxing fans were talking after the way he dispatched Levgen Khytrov in 6 rounds last year in January. Centeno Jr. never gave Aleem a chance.

Centeno Jr. caught Aleem with a perfect left hook to the head in round 3 to knock him out. If Centeno Jr. lands a similar shot on the chin of Charlo, he could knock him out. That shot is hard to track because Centeno Jr. throws it so wide.

Jermall is bigger than his twin brother Jermell Charlo, who holds the WBC junior middleweight title. Up until recently, Jermall was seen as more of a knockout threat than Jermell, but things have changed. The two seem almost even now. Jermell has looked impressive win his knockout wins over Erickson Lubin and Charles Hatley. Jermall is still the bigger puncher than Jermell. It’ll be interesting when Jermell moves up to 160. Both brothers will be a threat to a lot of the top fighters. It’ll be impossible for the top guys to avoid both Charlos.

“It’s going to be a tough fight against Hugo Centeno Jr. If he can stand up to my power, we’re going to fight and it’ll be a brutal war. If he can’t, I’ll take him out in the first round,” Jermall Charlo said.

Image: Jermall Charlo: I’ll KO everyone until Canelo or Golovkin have to face me

Image: Jermall Charlo: I’ll KO everyone until Canelo or Golovkin have to face me

Image: Jermall Charlo: I’ll KO everyone until Canelo or Golovkin have to face me

Image: Jermall Charlo: I’ll KO everyone until Canelo or Golovkin have to face me

Image: Jermall Charlo: I’ll KO everyone until Canelo or Golovkin have to face me

Image: Jermall Charlo: I’ll KO everyone until Canelo or Golovkin have to face me

Image: Jermall Charlo: I’ll KO everyone until Canelo or Golovkin have to face me

Image: Jermall Charlo: I’ll KO everyone until Canelo or Golovkin have to face me

Image: Jermall Charlo: I’ll KO everyone until Canelo or Golovkin have to face me

Image: Jermall Charlo: I’ll KO everyone until Canelo or Golovkin have to face me

Image: Jermall Charlo: I’ll KO everyone until Canelo or Golovkin have to face me

Image: Jermall Charlo: I’ll KO everyone until Canelo or Golovkin have to face me

Image: Jermall Charlo: I’ll KO everyone until Canelo or Golovkin have to face me

Image: Jermall Charlo: I’ll KO everyone until Canelo or Golovkin have to face me