Jermall Charlo tells Demetrius Andrade: Beat Juan Montiel and then we’ll talk

By Boxing News - 06/21/2021 - Comments

By Sean Jones: WBC middleweight champion Jermall Charlo says he’ll entertain the idea of a unification fight against WBO 160-lb champion Demetrius Andrade if he beats the guy he defeated last Saturday night in Juan Macias Montiel.

If Andrade agreed to take the fight, there wouldn’t be any guarantee that Jermall would fight him after he beats Montiel.

It would have played out better if Jermall had told the media that he wants no part of fighting Andrade because he’s a bad style match-up for him and that he might lose to him.

Likely knowing full well that Andrade’s promoters at Matchroom and the streaming giant DAZN would refuse the wacky idea, Charlo told the media at the post-fight press conference he would consider fighting Andrade (30-0, 18 KOs) if he defeated the hard-hitting Montiel (22-5-2, 22 KOs).

The ratings for a fight between Andrade and Montiel would be poor on DAZN due to the Mexican fighter coming off a loss to Charlo, and not being well known by most casual boxing fans.

Jermall sets a roadblock for Andrade fight

“We going to clean up the division sooner or later,” said Jermall. “I don’t make the fights. I don’t pick the fights.

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“I just showed y’all a fight like, you know. Let’s see if he could beat the dude [Juan Macias Montiel] I just fought. And then we’ll talk.’

“We going to clean up the division sooner or later,” said Jermall. “I don’t make the fights. I don’t pick the fights,” said Jermall.

With Demetrius’ boxing skills, he would do a number on Montiel and probably knock him out. It’s too bad Charlo struggled so much with Montiel, but that doesn’t mean Andrade would. He has an inside game, and he wouldn’t be worked over by Montiel in close the way Jermall was.

The real question is, why doesn’t Charlo want to fight Demetrius? His promoter Eddie Hearn reportedly offered Charlo $7 million for them to battle it out in a unification. Unfortunately, Charlo didn’t take the fight.

It’s one thing for Charlo to be showing no interest in going up to 168 to take on David Benavidez and Canelo Alvarez, but it’s senseless for him not to want to fight a champion in his own weight class.

Charlo calls Andrade a “horrible fighter”

It looks a lot like Jermall is afraid to fight Andrade, and that’s okay. There’s nothing wrong with being afraid, but it would be better if he were real with the fans by letting them know that he doesn’t like Andrade’s style.

Image: Jermall Charlo tells Demetrius Andrade: Beat Juan Montiel and then we'll talk

“I’m a fighter. But I don’t have rights to make the sanctioned bouts and to make the commissioners of each belt and he fights on a different network,” said Jermall in giving reasons why he won’t fight Andrade. “I’m not into all that, all right?’

“But he’s a horrible fighter. He’s a horrible fighter. I mean, it’s gonna be a horrible fight,” said Charlo in dismissing Andrade as a future opponent.