By Dan Ambrose: Eddie Hearn says he wants middleweight champions Jermall Charlo and Demetrius Andrade to fight each other in a unification to raise their profiles to earn a fight with superstar Canelo Alvarez.
Canelo (56-1-2, 38 KOs) has nothing to gain defending his super middleweight titles against Andrade (30-0, 18 KOs) and Charlo (32-0, 22 KOs) right now because those guys have never fought anyone talented during their career.
Charlo’s best victory to date came five years ago against Julian ‘J-Rock’ Williams in 2016, and he’s shown no desire to take risky fights against David Benavidez or Andrade.
Hearn didn’t like what he saw from WBC middleweight champion Charlo with his victory last week against Juan Macias Montiel.
Charlo struggled in that fight, getting hurt by Montiel and gassing in the later rounds.
Hearn feels that with Canelo Alvarez being busy attempting to become the undisputed 168-lb champion against Caleb Plant in September, Charlo and Andrade should meet in a unification fight at 160 in the meantime.
The winner of that match will be more popular, which will make it easier for them to get a fight with Alvarez afterward.
Jermall Charlo should fight Demetrius Andrade
“The next move is we want the Caleb Plant fight, and it’s time to get that underway now,” said Eddie Hearn to Little Giant Boxing about Canelo’s next fight on September 11th.
“No disrespect to [Juan Macias] Montiel, he fought real tough, but [Jermall] Charlo struggled in that fight,” said Hearn.
“I know he won wide, but it wasn’t an impressive performance. I do think Charlo is a tremendous fighter. Canelo Alvarez will fight absolutely anyone, but what he has is a plan to make history.
“So right now, he’s super middleweight, he wants to be undisputed, he wants all the belts. Charlo is a middleweight, and Demetrius Andrade is a middleweight.
“Those two should be fighting. You got both of those guys calling him out. Canelo knows what he’s doing. Demetrius Andrade and Charlo need to fight now!
“Two American super middleweight champions, what are they doing? Then the winner of that fight becomes sort of a star, and then they can talk about moving up to super middleweight to fight Canelo.
“That’s what needs to happen. Canelo Alvarez is the absolute pound-for-pound king. He has the right to fight whoever he wants.
“The good news is, he’s fighting champion after champion after champion. You don’t have to worry about Saul. He will fight anyone,” said Hearn.
If Canelo drew a line in the sand by telling Jermall that he must beat Andrade for him to get a fight against him, he would eventually entertain the idea.
Canelo hasn’t done that, which is why Jermall is fighting lesser opposition like Juan Montiel, Brandon Adams, Dennis Hogan, Sergiy Derevyanchenko, and Matt Korobov.
Hearn wants Andrade & Charlo to unify at 160
“Maybe after this, he may go up to light heavyweight and fight [IBF/WBC champion Artur] Beterbiev,” Hearn said. “He may fight [Dimitry] Bivol.
“He doesn’t care. He [Canelo] told me about Beterbiev. All I said [to Canelo] was, ‘Shouldn’t we fight Bivol first?’ ‘No, we want him [Beterbiev].
“That’s the beauty of Saul Alvarez. He will fight anyone. Charlo, I’m sure he’ll fight Charlo, but what for what? It’s a voluntary defense of his world title, and so is Demetrius.
“They’re both tremendous fighters. Let’s see them fight in a unification, and then we can start looking at those big fights,” said Hearn.
WBO middleweight champion Demetrius Andrade (30-0, 18 KOs) wants to fight Jermall in a unification match at 160, but the feelings aren’t mutual.
Charlo saying he wants Andrade to get vaccinated and fight his recent opponent Juan Macias Montiel is an indication that he has no desire to face him.
You must earn fight with Canelo
“The one thing I like about [David] Benavidez is he’s quite honest where he said ‘we need those kinds of fights to get up to [a match against Canelo],” said Hearn about Benavidez wanting to fight Jermall to earn a fight with Alvarez.
“It doesn’t matter what you get up to or what you have if you’re a champion in a division that Saul is in because he wants to fight all the champions.
“But when you’re talking about middleweight champions, he’s [Canelo] not at middleweight. He’s never going to fight at middleweight again.
“You have to come to the King, but you have to come with something. So you have to come with a belt or a huge profile or something.
“It’s not even profile. Saul doesn’t care about a profile. He wants the legacy; he wants the belts. And he wants to beat the champions. All he’s focused on now is becoming undisputed,” said Hearn.
It’s too bad Jermall Charlo has a sense of entitlement when it comes to trying to get a fight with Canelo or Gennadiy Golovkin.
Charlo, 31, feels like what he’s done during his career is enough for him to deserve fights against those guys, and he has no interest in facing the guys below their level to earn his way.
Former WBC super middleweight champion David Benavidez (24-0, 21 KOs) has the right idea of earning the fight with Canelo by beating the best guys, but Jermall doesn’t feel the same way.
That’s why Canelo would be sending the wrong message by agreeing to fight Charlo because it would let the other fighters know that they can fight lesser opposition, then be given a fight with Canelo by calling him out.
In contrast, Benavidez wants to earn the fight with Canelo by beating Plant and Jermall. Unfortunately, neither of those guys want any part of fighting him.
Caleb Plant next for Alvarez
“For me to see Saul become the undisputed champion, to me, that’s an incredible honor,” Hearn continued. “I believe I’ll work with Saul Alvarez for the rest of his career.
“This fight is about Caleb Plant. So what we have to do is look at the best opportunities for Saul, and PBC has to look at the best opportunities for Caleb.
“We have to look at the money offered from DAZN and look at the money offered from FOX, and we have to make the right decision that everybody is happy with.
“The first process is to make that offer to Caleb Plant, and I’m sure FOX will make an offer to do that fight.
“He’s [Canelo] made it clear that he doesn’t want a two, three-fight deal. This is a one-fight for everybody, for me, DAZN, PBC.
“This is just about the undisputed fight, and we should allow the fighters to be free to enter into these kinds of fights to create their own legacy and make as much money as possible.
“This isn’t about promoters; this isn’t about networks. This is about saying to the fighters, ‘This is your moment.’ From our side, we’re ready to do the fight wherever it needs to be done,” said Hearn.
As long as Canelo, 30, is open to meeting Plant’s $10 million+ asking price, those guys should have no problems fighting next on September 11th.
That’s still a lot of money for Canelo to be paying Plant, given that he’s not a huge name worldwide. The only thing Plant has going for him is his IBF 168-lb title, and the boxing world doesn’t care whether Canelo adds that strap to his collection.
Canelo becoming the undisputed champion at super middleweight will fly right over both casual and hardcore boxing fans. It’s a meaningless thing in their eyes.
Let’s face it; Plant is a paper champion at 168, and his dreadful resume, both as a champion and as a contender, is disappointing.