By Sean Jones: Jermall Charlo has suddenly surfaced as a potential opponent for Canelo Alvarez to fight next on Cinco de Mayo next May rather than the unknown WBC cruiserweight champion Ilunga Makabu that his trainer/manager Eddy Reynoso wants the Mexican star to fight.
According to Mike Coppinger for ESPN, he’s hearing that Canelo (57-1-2, 39 KOs) will be fighting the unbeaten WBC middleweight champion Jermall Charlo (32-0, 22 KOs) on the Cinco de Mayo holiday weekend on Saturday, May 7th.
Coppinger says, “talks: are underway right now between Canelo and Charlo. Sean Jones doesn’t believe it for a second because Jermall, even though he looked TERRIBLE in his last fight against cherry-picked opponent Juan Montiel Macias last June.
Charlo is a massive upgrade from the British fighters that Canelo spent the previous two years padding his record against at 168.
“I’m hearing it’s much more likely he’ll fight Jermall Charlo on Cinco de Mayo. There are talks right now for that fight,” said Mike Coppinger on ESPN.
It’s hard to believe the Canelo-Jermall fight is in the works because if it were in negotiations, Charlo would be blabbing his head off on social media 24/7 about it, and he’s not saying NOTHING about this match being in the works.
The more realistic option for Canelo is him doing what his trainer/manager Reynoso wants by going up to cruiserweight to fight the weakest link among the champions in 34-year-old Makabu (28-2, 25 KOs).
Perhaps the only reason the Canelo-Makabu fight hasn’t already been announced for May 7th is that Makabu still needs to win his January 29th title defense against WBC mandatory Thabiso Mchunu.
Canelo’s team can’t announce the Makabu fight until the smoke clears from his title defense against Mchunu.
If Makabu were all that and a lock to win that fight, Team Canelo would already be banging the drum, letting fans know about the battle with the WBC cruiserweight champion going down in May.
For a disappointing fight like that against Makabu, Canelo will need to announce that one as soon as possible because boxing fans in the U.S aren’t familiar with him.
While it fits with Canelo’s pattern of fighting grade-A opposition when they’re coming off a poor performance, Sean Jones doesn’t see him fighting a still live dog-like Jermall Charlo next.
This pick would be too much of an upgrade from the mediocre paper champions, shot fighters, and ex-sparring partner he’s been fighting since late 2018.
Some believe that Canelo has already RETIRED from fighting elite-level competition. He just hasn’t bothered to let the boxing world know that he’s done. The last time Canelo fought an elite fighter was in 2018, when he beat Gennadiy Golovkin by a controversial 12 round majority decision.
That fight with Golovkin in 2018 clearly took something from Canelo in terms of his ambition because he’s shown no desire to face risky competition ever since.
Not one of the last seven opponents Canelo has fought since the rematch with GGG has been anywhere near a 50-50 fight. In other words, these have all been slamdunk wins for Canelo going into the fights.
“He’s scared. Where are you at, cinnamon? We’ve been calling you out for a long time. Show up. Give the people what they want to see,” said Jermall Charlo in calling out Canelo. “People want to see us fight the best in the world. Come on, man. I’ll go to Mexico to fight Canelo at his house.
Tim Bradley’s reaction to Canelo vs. Makabu talk
“I don’t know no Macabu,” said Tim Bradley to Fighthype in reacting to the possibility of Canelo fighting the little-known WBC cruiserweight champion Ilunga Makabu. “I don’t care what he is, but nobody knows who he is.
“It’s an orchestrated greatness, bro. We want to see you in a REAL fight. So a fight with Benavidez [is what the people want to see],” said Bradley.