Jermall Charlo says Hearn and Arum have contacted him and Jermell for signing

By Boxing News - 05/24/2018 - Comments

Image: Jermall Charlo says Hearn and Arum have contacted him and Jermell for signing

By Jeff Aranow: Interim WBC middleweight champion Jermall Charlo (27-0, 21 KOs) says he’s been contacted by Matchroom Boxing USA promoter Eddie Hearn and Top Rank promoter Bob Arum about him and his twin brother WBC junior middleweight champion Jermell Charlo (30-0, 15 KOs) potentially signing a deal with those two promotional companies.

According to Dan Rafael, Jermall, 28, has spoken to his manager Al Haymon about Hearn being interested in signing him. With the $1 billion that Hearn is getting from his new 8-year deal with the streaming service DAZN, it’s important that he find out what he has to offer him. Hearn has already offered former 4-division world champion Adrien ‘The Problem’ Broner a $6.75 million offer for 3 fights. It’s a 1-year deal. Broner, however, has rejected the offer, calling it, “Slave wages.”

“We’re definitely open to it and to hearing what he has to say, and me and my twin brother are willing to work something out if it makes sense,”“Of course, I want to hear what he has to say.”

It’s going to take a signicant offer from Hearn to get the Charlo brothers to agree to sigh with him. It’s doubtful that he’ll be able to get either of them to sign with him if he offers them $2 million per fight.

For Hearn to ink Jermall and Jermell Charlo, he’ll likely need to outbid Arum and his Top Rank company for their services, because they’re interested in signing them as well. If one or both Charlo brothers sign with Arum, their fights would be televised on ESPN and ESPN+. Whether that’s a good thing or a bad thing for the Charlo’s careers is unclear. Boxing fans having to pay extra to see them on ESPN+ and DAZN might limit their exposure. Of course, people already must pay to watch the Charlo brothers on Showtime, which is a premium channel, at least with that channel, fans get to see movies. You can argue that it might not be as good a deal for the casual boxing fans to have to pay to see the Charlos on DAZN or ESPN+. Arum recently signed WBC super middleweight champion David Benavidez to his Top Rank stable. Benavidez’s previous promoter at Sampson Boxing says he still has a valid contract with him until 2021, so it remains to be seen when or if he’ll be with Top Rank or not.

It would be a far bigger deal for Hearn to sign the talented Charlo brothers than it would be to sign Adrien Broner, whose best days are well behind him at this point in his career. The Charlo brothers are world championship level fighters. Broner isn’t. Hearn also has former IBF middleweight champion Daniel Jacobs in his Matchroom Boxing USA stable, but he’s not fighting at the same level as the Charlos. Those two guys look like they’re going to be major players in their respective weight classes for the next decade. If Hearn can sign one or both, he would have someone to build around for his new DAZN deal.