By Chris Williams: Jermall Charlo felt he had to check journalist Chris Mannix during an interview this week after he started pushing buttons by asking the wrong questions that he didn’t want to hear. WBC middleweight champion Charlo (30-0, 22 KOs) snapped after Mannix, who was interviewing him for Sports Illustrated, asked him if he thought he could get fights against Canelo Alvarez and Gennadiy Golovkin.
It’s common knowledge that Jermall has wanted fights against Canelo and GGG for a long time, but neither of those guys has looked his way. Many boxing fans think those two are just plain scared of Jermall and don’t want that smoke.
Mannix asked Charlo about whether he has a chance at fighting GGG and Canelo, he wasn’t feeling it, and he jumped all over him in retaliation. Jermall let Mannix know straight away that he didn’t like his questions. Finally, Jermall cut off the interview and left Mannix with just himself to finish his podcast.
Charlo will be defending his WBC middleweight title tonight against Sergiy Derevyanchenko in a doubleheader on Showtime pay-per-view at the Mohegan Bay Casino in Uncasville, Connecticut. Jermall’s twin brother Jermell Charlo is also n the card, and he’ll be defending his WBC 154-lb title against IBF/WBA champion Jeison Rosario.
Jermall checks Mannix
Mannix: “Do you think Canelo is there for you, Golovkin is there for you? The fighters that you have called out?” said Chris to SI Boxing Podcast.
Charlo: “You must not know boxing. What do you think? Yeah, they’re there for me. All I got to do is fight. All I got to do is win and be the best that I can be. I don’t know what you are asking me.
“What do you want me to say? ‘No, they’re not there for me.’ What do you want me to give you? They’re there for me. You know boxing, and you know it. If you don’t, then you don’t ask questions like this,” said an agitated Charlo.
Mannix: “No, I think you’re a great fighter. I am going to tell the people that are listening to watch this fight, and the people I’m writing for to watch this fight. And I want to see this fight. I think it’s the best fight of your middleweight career at this point. I’m just wondering how much thought you’ve given to how tough it is to make fights at 160 at this point?
Charlo: “I know that already. I’m 30 and 0 with 22 knockouts, but I don’t want to fight this guy? Man, what don’t you know about me? What do you want to give out to your fans? This interview is for you, not me.
“What do you want to give out to your fans? Tell your fans to watch my fight on Showtime pay-per-view. Order it. Who cares about what they thought about me? You ask me questions that are irrelevant to what I’ve got going on in front of me.
“Me and my twin brother [Jermell] are great. We’re in great spirits. We see each other every day. We’re eating great. I don’t know if you work for DAZN or who you work for, but you’re asking me some bull s***, and I’m about to get off this interview,” Charlo said.
Charlo going uphill
Mannix: “No, I think you’re a great fighter.”
Charlo: “So ask me questions about being a great fighter if you want to continue to talk to me because you’re talking about DAZN offering me some money. You’re talking about some s*** you don’t even know. You haven’t got any real proof. You’re just saying what you heard on the Internet. Ask me about me, and I’ll give you the information that I’m going to give you.”
Mannix: “I’m asking, that’s why I was getting through that question. I was asking, at 30-years-old, do you feel like you’re on that path.”
Charlo: “I feel good. I feel like I’m the best. Have you ever been 30 before? I feel good; I’m 30-years-old. I’m great, and I feel strong, and I’m going to beat the s*** out of anybody they put in front of me.
‘You want to see me and my brother be the best that we can be, then you get in the passenger’s seat, and you ride with me and just ride. Don’t keep asking me what we are doing. We heading up the hill, bro.
‘We want to be the best that we can be, so we’re heading up the hill. We’re going far. If they want to fight us, they’ll fight us. If they don’t, then we’re gone.”‘
Mannix should have backed off with the questions about Golovkin and Canelo when he saw that Charlo was getting upset, but he kept pushing. If Mannix had changed directions completely, he could have disarmed Jermall, and the interview wouldn’t have ended the way it did. But we don’t know if Mannix had a plan with the questions that he was asking for not.
Jermall bails on the interview
Mannix: “As you can see there, the conversation ended kind of abruptly. It happens sometimes when you’re doing interviews like this. Look, I think Jermall Charlo has a ton of star power.
“I think he can be a standard-bearer for American boxing, but I’ve said this time and time ago, you are not what your talent says you are. You are not what your bank account says you are. In boxing, you are what your resume says you are.
“I’ve said this countless times. Manny Pacquiao became Manny Pacquiao [the star] because he fought Miguel Cotto, Ricky Hatton, Antonio Margarito, and Floyd Mayweather. I’ve seen some criticism later in his career, but coming up the ranks, he [Mayweather] fought Diego Corrales, he fought Jose Luis Castillo, he fought Genaro Hernandez.
“You’ve got to take tough fights if you want to be respected in the sport, and too often fighters don’t seek out those tough fights, even if they do come with a big financial reward. Jermall Charlo is going to get an opportunity.
“Sergiy Derevyanchenko is a very good fight, a very tough test, and hopefully, it leads to bigger fights for Charlo if he wins down the line.”
The fans already know that Charlo has been looking to fight Golovkin and Canelo for many years, but he’s not been offered fights against him. Jermall can’t drag those two fighters into the ring to face him. Either they want to fight Charlo, or they don’t, and apparently, they’re not interested.
So it’s a little unfair to be asking Jermall about fighting GGG and Alvarez when he has no power to force either of those guys to face him. The WBC already made Canelo the Franchise champion, which means he never has to face Charlo.
Tureano Johnson predicts Derevyanchenko win
“I’d like to be the one to defeat Charlo, but I don’t think I’m going to get that opportunity because Sergiy is going to be the one to beat him,” said Tureano Johnson to Fighthype in picking Derevyanchenko to defeat Jermall.
“Sergiy has all the tools and everything there is to beat Charlo. But at the same time, Sergiy is not just going to up against Charlo. He’s going up against the judges and the officials. It may not go in his favor if it goes the distance.
“He needs to look for a dominating performance and not let it close. He needs to shut the fight out. Daniel Jacobs and GGG, those two fights were very close, and he still ended up on the s***** end of the stick,” Tureano said about Derevyanchenko.
“I hope he’ll be able to pull it off. If not, then I’ll get the job done. Let Charlo comes this way. I’ll definitely knock his head off,” said Johnson.
Tureano already got knocked out by Derevyanchenko in a 12th round defeat in 2017, so it’s not surprising that he’s talking him up right now.
Johnson wants a rematch with Sergiy
“I’ve spoken a few words with him [Derevyanchenko] on Instagram. We have the same coach [Andre Rozier],” said Tureano when asked if he’d like to fight a rematch against Derevyanchenko.
“I respect Sergiy. His lifestyle is similar to mine, just as I respect Daniel Jacobs. Would I ever fight him again? I hope so. Redemption is still in my heart, and I feel like I’m capable and able to go in there and do a dominating fight against Sergiy Derevyanchenko.
“You didn’t get the best of me. You didn’t even get 50% of me when I did fight Derevyanchenko. Come now, you’re going to get a better Tureano. Be that we both have the same coach, I believe the fight can still be made.
“But hey, it depends on how this world plays out. I would like to get that opportunity to redeem myself and fight Sergiy. Let’s just see how it is if it is worth taking that fight,” said Tureano.
If Tureano wants a rematch with Derevyanchenko, he’s going to have to get a little busier with his career because he’s not fighting enough. Since that loss, Tureano has fought just two times, and that was against Fernando Castaneda and Jason Quigley. Castaneda held Tureano to an eight-round draw in 2018.
The rematch that Turano needs is with Castenada first before looking to face Derevyanchenko. Tureano also needs to avenge his 10th round knockout loss to Curtis Stevens in 2014. Right now, Derevyanchenko has nothing to gain in fighting Tureano, so that fight isn’t going to happen. Even if Sergiy loses tonight to Jermall, he’s not going to be looking to face Tureano again.