Jermell Charlo still bitter at not getting Canelo Alvarez fight

By Boxing News - 06/03/2021 - Comments

By Dan Ambrose: Jermell Charlo is still bitter six years after losing out on a fight that he said he was promised by Golden Boy Promotions CEO Oscar De La Hoya against Canelo Alvarez.

De La Hoya accidentally tagging Jermell’s Twitter handle instead of his bigger brother Jermall yesterday while trash-talking Canelo is what woke Jermell up, getting him talking about Oscar and the fight that he never got.

Charlo (34-1, 18 KOs) says De La Hoya promised him a fight against Canelo in 2014 if he beat Gabe Rosado, which he did by a wide 10 round unanimous decision in a match that was a lot closer than the scores.

Instead of De La Hoya giving Charlo the fight, Canelo went in a different direction, choosing to fight the chinny James Kirkland in 2015, stopping him in the third round.

To this day, it’s still unclear why Canelo chose to fight Kirkland rather than Jermell Charlo, as James had already been knocked out in the first round by Nobuhiro Ishida not long before their fight.

There was nothing for Canelo to gain in fighting Kirland over the unbeaten Charlo other than an easy gimme win.

Image: Jermell Charlo still bitter at not getting Canelo Alvarez fight

Jermell looked poor against Rosado

It’s possible that De La Hoya chose to match Canelo against Kirkland rather than Charlo due to how poor Jermell looked in his win over Gabe Rosado in 2014.

Yeah, Jermell won the fight by a wide decision, but it looked like Rosado had done enough to deserve the win. At ringside, the boxing fans loudly booed the decision, believing that Rosado should have had his hand raised instead of Charlo.

You can’t rule out the possibility that De La Hoya chose Kirkland because he wasn’t a threat to his then golden goose Canelo compared to Jermell. Back then, Canelo was coming off of a controversial 12 round split decision win over Erislandy Lara in 2014.

Additionally, Canelo had suffered a one-sided 12 round decision loss to Floyd Mayweather Jr in 2013. With those two poor performances coming one after another, the last thing Canelo needed was to face a talented guy like Jermell. Hence, Canelo was fed Kirkland to give him a boost up.

Charlo no longer interested in fighting Canelo

“People, stay off that Canelo sh*t because I’m at 154, and Canelo is at 168,” said Jermell on Lions Only. “That’s two weight divisions. That can’t happen. I can’t fight Canelo.

“At 154, I wanted that sh*t before anybody. I’m at 154 with one belt to get. Brian Castano, your a** is next. Everyone else, they’re going to get that smoke,” said Jermell.

Brian Castano next for Jermell on July 17th

Charlo will be fighting WBO 154-lb champion Brian Castano (17-0-1, 12 KOs) for the undisputed junior middleweight championship on July 17th on Showtime.

The winner of the Charo vs. Castano fight will hold all four belts at 154 and will be crowned the undisputed champion in the division.

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