By Chris Williams: Jermell Charlo says Terence Crawford still needs to get past Errol Spence and Jaron Ennis at 147 before he can start talking about coming up to 154 to challenge him.
IBF/WBA/WBC junior middleweight champion Charlo says Crawford hasn’t fought the same type of opposition as him during his career.
Although Crawford was undisputed at 140, he’s not fought the same high-caliber opposition as Jermell (34-1-1, 18 KOs).
Before Crawford can think of messing with Charlo, he’s got a major test on his hands against IBF/WBA/WBC 147-lb champion Spence, and Jermell says he’s not going to win that fight. He also thinks Crawford won’t beat Boots Ennis either.
Crawford is fighting WBO 154-lb champion Brian Castano this Saturday night in an undisputed championship on Showtime at the Dignity Health Sports Arena in Carson, California.
“He first got to get past Errol Spence, and that ain’t going to happen,” said Jermell Charlo to Fighthype about Terence Crawford wanting a fight with him in 2023.
We don’t even know if Crawford is going to be able to negotiate a fight with Spence, let alone try and beat him for all the marbles. Crawford is the B-side in the equation against Spence, and if he tries to get parity in the negotiations, he’s going to be left with a bunch of air.
Spence will give it a try in the negotiations, but if it ain’t happening, he’s moving up to 154. Crawford can always stay around and fight whoever picks up Spence’s three titles once he vacates them. It’s going to take a while, though, before Crawford can fight everybody.
“He’s a tough fighter; he’s from Omaha. We know about him; he’s a dog, he can fight, and he can go,” continued Charlo about Crawford.
“When we compare opposition, has his opposition been anywhere close to our opposition? Absolutely not. So, I can’t even look at him like he’s done anything in boxing.
“I mean, he’s won world titles at 140,” Charlo said of Crawford. “He won the undisputed, that’s great, but at 154, you’re talking about knocking me out and beating me and all this s***. I’m cool with that, it’s whatever.
“They’re fighting on ESPN, and their opposition ain’t the same as ours. We’re in the big leagues. Crawford doesn’t mean s***. He ain’t in my weight division. He’s making 147.
“He can’t beat anybody over there. Jaron Ennis, he can’t even f*** with him. How is he going to come and talk about knocking somebody like me out? It’s whatever. They just do this s*** for hype and clout.
“I don’t know about Canelo. I’m not his people or his manager. I don’t know nothing about him,” said Jermell when asked if Canelo Alvarez should activate his rematch clause in his contract to force a second fight with Dmitry Bivol after losing to him last Saturday night.
“If he fights again, he should fight at 168,” said Jermell about Canelo.
