By Matt Lieberman: WBC middleweight champion Jermall Charlo weighed in at 160-lbs, and challenger Juan Macias Montiel weighed in at 159.4 lbs on Friday at the weigh-in for Saturday’s fight between them on Showtime Championship Boxing at the Toyota Center in Houston, Texas.
(Photo credit: Esther Lin/SHOWTIME)
Initially, Charlo (31-0, 22 KOs) weighed in over the middleweight limit at 160.4 lbs, making it necessary for him to stip down. However, once he did that, he came in at 160 lbs.
Interestingly, Jermall said he on weight on Thursday, but he wasn’t able to hold that weight overnight. Fortunately, Charlo made the 160-lb limit on his second try without hitting the sauna or treadmill to take off the extra weight.
Charlo denies he’s feeling weight drained
“I feel good; I’m ready for tomorrow,” said Jermall. “It’s boxing. I was on weight yesterday, and today, I feel good. Hell, no, I feel good,” said Charlo when asked if he feels drained.
Charlo coming in a little heavy will feed the critics, who see him as a weight bully and think he should be fighting at 168 instead of 160.
Jermall does look huge for his fights at middleweight compared to his opponents, but you can’t blame him for wanting to stay in this division.
If Jermall moved up to 168, he would need to fight guys like David Benavidez, Canelo Alvarez, Carlos Gongora, Edgar Berlanga, and Daniel Jacobs.
That would be a lot harder for Charlo than the guys he’s been feasting on at 160 like Sergiy Derevyanchenko, Dennis Hogan, Brandon Adams, Hugo Centeno, Jorge Sebastian Heiland, and Matt Korobov
Jermall says Montiel may look to survive
“I don’t know, I can’t predict. I never predict my fights because I might get in there and feel different. He might be a professional survivor; who knows?” said Charlo.
Montiel, 27, will be trying to knock Charlo out on Saturday, not just coming to survive. But that’s not how Montiel fights. Instead, he’s one of those guys swinging for the fences from start to finish in his fights.
Unlike many fighters, Charlo doesn’t have a big fight over the horizon that he’s looking forward to. After this, it’s unclear who Jermall will be fighting. He’s not interested in fighting WBO middleweight champion Demetrius Andrade, even though that would be an easy match to make.
The only guy that Charlo has been talking about wanting to fight is 39-year-old Gennadiy Golovkin, but that’s not going to happen.
Jermall says he would like to fight Canelo Alvarez, but he would have to come down to 160. In other words, Jermall won’t be fighting Canelo either.
We’re probably going to see Charlo fighting someone like Maciej Sulecki next, which is similar to this Saturday’s contest with Montiel.
Other weights on Saturday’s card:
Isaac ‘Pitbull’ Cruz 133 vs Franciso ‘Bandido’ Vargas 134
Angelo Leo 122 vs Aaron Alameda 123.8
