By Dan Ambrose: Jermall Charlo cleared up the confusion about Mark Breland by letting his fans know on social media that he hasn’t hired him as one of his new trainers on Thursday.
The WBC middleweight champion Charlo (31-0, 22 KOs) given a lot of praise from boxing fans this week when he posted a photo of himself and the 1984 Olympic gold medalist and former two-time welterweight champion, Breland, in his gym with the caption:
“Welcome back, Mark Breland, to the Lion’s den.”
Breland, 57, was recently released as a trainer of former WBC heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder shortly after throwing in the towel to save him in the seventh round last year in his fight with Tyson Fury.
Wilder wasn’t happy with Breland stopping the fight, and he was subsequently let go as one of his trainers. In response, many boxing fans were upset with Breland being fired due to him doing his job to protect Wilder, who had virtually no chance of beating Fury.
“Mark Breland is not training me. He’s very close friends with my trainer. We’re laughing with all this hate coming in. I’ve been knowing coach Breland since I was 10 years old. @bronzebomber, don’t feed into the BS,” said Jermall Charlo on social media.
Since Jermall posted this comment, boxing fans are taking shots at him, saying that he was afraid of the fallout from him hiring Breland.
It would be a good thing for Charlo or any fighter to hire Breland because he has an excellent reputation as a great coach.
For Charlo, it would be even more important because he’s getting criticized by fans for his decision to defend his WBC middleweight title against Juan Macias Montiel (22-4-2, 22 KOs) next on June 19th on Showtime.
Fans wanted to see Jermall Charlo step it up and face one of these guys:
- David Benavidez
- Demetrius Andrade
- Gennady Golovkin
- Canelo Alvarez
- Chris Eubank Jr
- Jaime Munguia
Jermall, 31, said recently that he was interested in fighting the two-time former WBC super-middleweight champion Benavidez, but then he changed his mind about that. Instead of facing the unbeaten Benavidez, Charlo is taking on Montiel, a fighter that was knocked out in two rounds by Jaime Munguia in 2017.
Charlo also had the opportunity to take on WBO middleweight champion Demetrius Andrade in a unification fight, but apparently, he’s not shown interest in that fight either.
Andrade’s promoter Eddie Hearn told fans this week that he’s been wanting to put a fight together with Charlo but hasn’t been able to.
Montiel, 27, is a fighter in the same mold as the guys that Charlo has been facing since he moved up to middleweight.
The little-known Montiel has been beating second-tier opposition throughout his career and recently beat an over-the-hill James Kirkland by a first-round knockout in his last fight in December.
What was Montiel doing fighting a guy like Kirkland at this point in his career is anyone’s guess. Nevertheless, the World Boxing Council has Montiel ranked #4 despite his resume being empty of wins over high-caliber opposition.
Charlo has been a disappointment since being elevated to WBC champion outside of the ring in 2019.
In Charlo’s four title defenses since being made email champion, he’s beaten these fighters:
- Sergiy Derevyanchenko
- Matt Korobov – *controversial 12 round decision
- Brandon Adams
- Dennis Hogan
Is Jermall Charlo milking his WBC title?
Some boxing fans believe that Jermall is merely milking his WBC title by choosing guys considered no threat to beating him.
They want to see Charlo show courage and take risks like his twin brother Jermell Charlo, who holds the IBF, WBA and WBC junior middleweight titles. Jermell will be facing WBO champion Brian Castano for the undisputed championship on July 17th on Showtime.
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