By Chris Williams: Jermell Charlo says he’s hoping to unify the 154-pound division before he eventually moves up in weight to 160. For now, Charlo (33-1, 17 KOs) is happy where he’s at in the junior middleweight division.
The 29-year-old Charlo recently defeated Tony Harrison by an 11th round knockout in December 2019 in their rematch.
It took Charlo to get a rematch with Harrison (28-3, 21 KOs) after losing a controversial 12 round unanimous decision to him in December 2018. Although Charlo maintains that he did enough to win the first fight, the judges were more impressed with the boxing ability of Harrison.
In their rematch last December, Charlo dropped Harrison three times in stopping him in the 11th. It was somewhat of a questionable stoppage because Harrison looked like he could continue fighting when the referee Jack Reiss stepped in and stopped the fight. Harrison had his back against the ropes at the time and trying to block a flurry of shots from Charlo.
Jermell needs to face Jeison Rosario
If Charlo is serious about wanting to unify the 154-lb division, the guy that he needs to face next is IBF/WBA champion Jeison Rosario (20-1-1, 14 KOs). Rosario is coming off of a 5th round knockout win over champion Julian ‘J-Rock’ Williams on January 18 in Philadelphia. Rosario, 25, had too much power for J-Rock, and he blasted him out with ease.
For Charlo to have any chance of beating the younger and more powerful fighter Rosario, he’ll need to focus on his boxing instead of his slugging. Charlo lacks the power to be trading with Rosario. If Charlo fights Rosario the way he did against Harrison in their two matches, he’ll lose for certain.
Jermell discusses Crawford and Spence
“Don’t ask me about Canelo. He doesn’t make sense to me in my life. I’m 154-pounder,” said Jermell Charlo on social media. “I’m going after all the belt. And I’m going to go after all the belts because that’s a dream come true for me. Errol Spence is the same. Don’t be on that dumb s***.
“Everybody is saying that Errol Spence isn’t the same. He was always a quiet, humble dude. Trust me; nobody is going to go back into the gym and take a fight if they’re not mentally and physically prepare. God gave him a second chance, and that’s what you can’t hate on. He had a little hiccup, and he’s going to bounce back.
“It isn’t like he lost a fight. He’s a world champ. He got belts, but nobody else wants to see him. They talk that Crawford s***. That s*** isn’t what it is. Jermell Charlo beats everybody. I hear you. They don’t understand,” said Jermell.
Charlo is friends with Errol Spence, which is why he’s defending him. Fans want to see Spence and Terence Crawford fight, but as Charlo points out, ‘Nobody wants to see him’ in talking about Terence. For the Spence-Crawford fight to take place, Crawford needs to pick up some fans somewhere.
Charlo not moving up to 160
“No, I don’t plan on moving up,” said Jermell Charlo. “I want to go get these belts. I got two of these belts, and I got the WBCs. I’m going to go try and get the red ones and some of the colorful ones. My kids like colors. I heard one of the belts has two lions on it, so I definitely need him.
“The other belt is whatever, and De La Hoya, he’s holding onto one belt just to stay relevant. He needs to go put whoever he is in that pit and see if he comes out. He might come out with one leg, or he might come out with no tail,” said Jermell.
Charlo’s management at Premier Boxing Champions should easily set up a fight between him and IBF/WBA 154-lb champion Jeison Rosario if they wanted to. Whether they will or not is another question.
Moving up to 160 would be a disaster for Charlo. He doesn’t know how to box, and he has a bad habit of slugging too much. With that style, Charlo would be asking for trouble if he moved up to 160 and took on someone like Gennadiy Golovkin, Canelo Alvarez, Sergiy Derevyanyanchenko or Demetrius Andrade.
It’s unclear why Charlo is even mentioning Julian ‘J-Rock’ William’s name, considering that he’s coming off of a knockout loss to Jeison Rosario. The guy that Charlo should be talking about is Rosario.
He’s the one with the most belts at 154, and he made it look too easy in his stoppage victory over J-Rock. Rosario did a better job beating J-Rock than Charlo’s twin brother Jermall Charlo.
Jermell doubts he’ll fight Canelo
“No, I don’t think I’ll ever fight Canelo,” said Jermell. “Maybe when I retire and do an exhibition, maybe that would be cool. I’m at 154. I tried to call them boys out for a minute. Yeah, I want to move up to 160 eventually. That would be cool. It’s like a train. Everything changes over eventually.
“So everybody at 147 will go to 150, and one of the hottest divisions will be 160 with me. I’ll fight anybody in the division. I had to take Tony [Harrison] out because I wanted you to know that was a whole fraud move.
“I don’t know what the boxing world was on when they tried to do me like that. But it’s always something to try and make a legacy important, and I guess that’s what I went through,” said Jermell.
Charlo should be calling out Canelo, but it looks like he sees it as a waste of time. Canelo would likely have too much size, power, and boxing ability for Charlo and his brother Jermall.
It might be better for Jermell to stay away from middleweights like Canelo. Jermell hasn’t proven that he’s the best at 154, so it’s a waste of time for him to be trying to get a fight against Canelo.
If Charlo showed that he could beat all the lions in the junior middleweight division, then it would make sense for him to start calling out Canelo Alvarez. Unfortunately, Charlo didn’t look good enough against Harrison to suggest that he would even be competitive with Canelo or a half dozen other fighters at 160. Charlo is too weak, too small, and he gets hit too quickly.
Charlo not interested in third Harrison clash
“So, the topic of the discussion is what I ever fight him [Harrison]? F*** no,” said Jermell. “Would we go back and try and prove another point, a point that I already proved? I proved that in the first fight, but I guess everybody was listening to the hype man Tony Harrison. He hyped real good, and he got his a** knocked out.
“I don’t know what you want me to do, wiggle and dance with him in the ring? Yeah, it was entertaining, and that’s why you should purchase and watch the next fight because I’m going to give you the same ruthless Jermell Charlo.”
It’s time for Charlo to move on and not waste more time against Harrison. The chances are if they fought again, Charlo might lose if Harrison stays composed and stops spending time showboating. Charlo needs to either unify or look to milk his WBC title against beatable guys.
The fact that Charlo mentioned J-Rock’s name on Instagram suggests that he’ll probably fight him. If Charlo is going to focus on defending his belt against the World Boxing Council’s top 15, there’s not a lot of options.
These are the top 5 in the WBC’s rankings:
- Erickson Lubin
- Sergio Garcia
- Tony Harrison
- Julian Williams
- Jarrett Hurd
Fans would like to see Jermell and Hurd (24-1, 16 KOs0 fight. They were supposed to face each other before Hurd lost to J-Rock last May. Hurd looked good in his bounce-back fight in beating Francisco Santana by a 10 round decision on January 25.
Hurd will be a hard fight for Jermell if he looks the way he did in his two matches against Harrison. That version of Jermell Charlo loses to Hurd, and probably Erislandy Lara, Jeison Rosario, and Israil Madrimov.
Charlo talks J-Rock
“I’ll put J-Rock to sleep, yes, sir,” said Charlo. “You want me to talk and say names? F*** them dudes. I’ll put anyone of them dudes [to sleep]. At 154, where are they at? How come they haven’t said, ‘Jermell Charlo, I want to whoop you a**.’
“I don’t hear it, and I ain’t heard it in years, and I’m the WBC champion. Well, call me out. Step up and tell me you want to fight. I haven’t seen one in years. Oh, we ducking guys. They’ve been on all this Canelo hype s*** for years,” said Charlo.
“I went in there and dominated and knocked him out,” said Charlo on his fight with Harrison.
Right now, the 154-lb division is incredibly weak with few talented fighters. The guys with talent either fight at 147 or 160. That’s where the money fights are. The guys that stay at 154 or mostly fighters that wouldn’t be able to win a world title at welterweight or middleweight. By fighting at 154, some of the fighters can be relevant.
In looking at Jermell’s recent two matches against Harrison, he wouldn’t do well at 160. He doesn’t hit hard enough, and he struggles against guys with boxing ability. Harrison fought Charlo to a standstill in their rematch up until the 11th. That right there tells you about Charlo’s limitations as a fighter.
Vanes Martirosyan found himself on the losing end of a controversial 10 round decision in his fight with Jermell in 2015. Other than that, Jermell’s wins have come against limited fighters with flaws.
