Jermell Charlo wants Jeison Rosario unification fight

By Boxing News - 04/29/2020 - Comments

By Dan Ambrose: WBC 154-pound champion Jermell Charlo says he wants to take IBF/WBA champ Jeison Rosario in a unification fight when possible.

The talented Charlo (33-1, 17 KOs) wants to become the undisputed 154-lb champion, and he has Rosario (20-1-1, 14 KOs) and WBO champion Patrick Teixeira standing in his way from accomplishing that task.

Charlo, 29, revealed that he plans on fighting just two more years, so he wants to get as much accomplished as possible before he walks away from the game.

In his last fight, Charlo avenged his earlier loss to Tony Harrison by stopping him in the 11th round on December 21.

The victory for Charlo was sweet revenge, considering his 12 round unanimous decision defeat to Harrison in December 2018 was a controversial loss.

Charlo talks Harrison fight

“I would have never made the same mistake Canelo made saying, ‘I had the wrong beef.’ Come on, man. That ain’t no excuse, but that ain’t my world,” said Jermell Charlo to PBC Podcast. “In my last fight [against Tony Harrison], I was trying to be quiet and cool.

“He was fooling around and dancing around the ring. I didn’t want to jump into his circle, so I stayed composed. I’m tired of people thinking that me and my brother [Jermall] are irrational a** and crazy a** fighters. Nah, man. We’re just smart a** idiots, I guess. I’m just an intelligent individual, and I’m not going to make mistakes.

“I don’t have a guide telling me how to do it. I do it myself, and I let my life be my legend, and sometimes I make mistakes. But I’m a warrior; sometimes I win, and sometimes I lose.

“That fight right there [Harrison], it was amazing because I was able to get through Tony. He was talking s*** because he thought he came through a win that he didn’t win,” said Jermell.

Charlo used his power game to wear Harrison down and drop him twice in the fight before the contest was stopped in round 11. Jermell knocked Harrison down in rounds two and eleven. Charlo wasn’t going to let Harrison box him and move around the ring like he did last time. He stalked Harrison, and let him up each time he got to him.

Image: Jermell Charlo wants Jeison Rosario unification fight

Jermell wants to be “Top dog” at 154

“A lot of people talked crazy to me. I went for the f**** kill. I would like Hurd, and I would like to get Rosario out of the way. And I haven’t thought about a rematch with Lubin because I’ve moved on. I don’t want to go backward. There are a lot of fighters in the way.

“And I want to prove that I’m really the top dog. It’s everyday dedication. I sparred heavyweights, and I’m having knees buckle in the camp. I got a cruiserweight I spar with. I’m ready to fight. Put me in the ring. I only got two more years left, so get everything you can out of me. I’m going to get everything out of the window,” said Charlo.

The excellent news for Charlo is he only needs to beat two guys for him to become the undisputed champion at 154. The hard work for Jermell will be for him to conquer the 25-year-old Rosario, being that he’s a huge puncher, and he’s young.

Rosario is coming off of an impressive fifth-round knockout win over J-Rock Williams on January 18 in Philadelphia.

Although the victory for Rosario was seen as an upset by some boxing fans, others weren’t surprised at all. Rosario, who comes from the Dominican Republic, is a talented fighter with knockout power in both hands.

If Rosario lands the same kinds of shots on Charlo’s chin that he was hitting J-Rock with, he’ll knock him out for sure. Charlo is a good fighter, but he can be hurt. He’s not blessed with a granite chin. For Charlo to beat Rosario, he’s going to need to stay out of the way of his power shots.

Charlo: I’ll fight Jeison Rosario

“I wasn’t surprised,” said Jermell on Jeison Rosario’s win over Julian ‘J-Rock’ Williams. “And I knew it was going to be a tough fight. I didn’t know that Williams wouldn’t be able to handle him.

“I’ll fight Rosario. I want to be the master and get all the belts.,” said Charlo. “I can’t call myself the master and the big boy unless I get all the belts. Lubin will win a world title. He’ll knock out a lot of mother f*** if he puts his mind to it.

“I’m going to be back in the ring soon, and get everything I can every time I’m there,” said Jermell.

Charlo vs. Rosario will need to make sense financially for it to happen. It’s going to be a risky fight for both guys, and they’ll want to make sure that it takes place in front of a live audience instead of behind closed doors without boxing fans present.

Charlo can’t let Rosario hit him with the kinds of punches that Harrison was landing in both of their fights. In Rosario’s only career loss to Nathaniel Gallimore in 2017, he stopped in the 6th round. Gallimore dropped the then 22-year-old Rosario with a left hook. From there, Rosario was knocked down twice more by the 28-year-old Gallimore before the fight was halted.

Rosario, 25, has gotten stronger since that fight, and he’s a much different guy compared to how he was back then.

You can argue that Rosario would destroy Gallimore (21-4-1, 17 KOs) if they fought right now. Gallimore is 31 now, and he’s lost three out of his last four fights in defeats to Erickson Lubin, J-Rock, and Patrick Teixeira.

Although Harrison did an excellent job of boxing at times, he couldn’t handle the power from Charlo. The combinations and the speed of Charlo were ultimately too much for Harrison. Charlo got hit a lot both Harrison, and he looked vulnerable at times.

The fight was competitive enough for boxing fans to want to see a trilogy match in the future, but that’ll need to wait. Charlo intends to unify the junior middleweight division first. He’s also interested in facing former IBF/WBA champion Jarrett Hurd.

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