By Sam Volz: Jermall Charlo says he wants his brother Jermell to move up to 160 and begin his reign in that weight class after becoming undisputed at 154 last Saturday night with his tenth-round knockout win over WBO junior middleweight champion Brian Castano in Carson, California.
The main negative for Jermell in moving up to 160 is there’s virtually no one for him to fight. The 40-year-old IBF/WBA middleweight champion Gennadiy Golovkin is the only popular fighter remaining in the middleweight division, and he’s expected to retire soon.
Even if Golovkin doesn’t, he will not fight Jermell Charlo. Golovkin never showed interest in fighting Jermall, so what makes anyone think he’ll want to fight Jermell?
Jermall, who holds the WBC middleweight title, says he will go up to 168 to become undisputed in that weight class. He says he’s hoping to get a title shot against undisputed super middleweight champion Canelo Alvarez before the end of the year.
“We really did it. It doesn’t matter if it’s my brother; it’s a long-term goal. We always wanted to be a world champion and be undisputed,” said Jermall Charlo to Fight Hub TV, reveling in Jermell Charlo’s victory over Brian Castano.
“I told him to go get it, use your jab, and you got it. You got to be more patient, and he got it done. It was a beautiful fight.
“How proud I am of him as my brother and glad he’s my brother,” Jermall said when asked what he told Jermell after his victory over the 32-year-old Castano.
“I go up to 168, and I let my brother reign at 160,” said Jermall about his intentions for Jermell. “That’s how it goes. Maybe so,” said Jermall when asked if this was Jermell’s last fight at 154.
“I don’t want him to try and make weight anymore. It’s time for him to move up [to 160]. He’s already undisputed at 154, and I feel like I can let my brother move up to 160, and I can go to 168.
“I think that would be the best thing my mom ever asked for. Yeah, that sets me up to be undisputed [168]. Hopefully, I get Canelo by the end of the year,” said Jermall.
If Jermell moves up to 160, these are the only names that he’d have a chance to fight in that barren weight class:
- Jaime Munguia
- Chris Eubank Jr
- Demetrius Andrade
- Janibek Alimkhanuly
- Ryota Murata
Given how many problems Jermell had in his two fights against Castano, he’d lose to Andrade, Munguia, and Janibek. Jermell can probably beat Eubank Jr. and Murata, though, but he wouldn’t have much reign at 160 if he couldn’t live with the talented guys like Andrade, Janibek, or Munguia.
If Jermell chooses to take on those guys rather than swerve them, as some boxing fans believe Jermall has done, he’ll probably get beaten and need to return to the 154-lb division to save his sinking career. In other words, Jermell isn’t a good enough fighter to win world titles and hold them down at 160 as he did in the weak 154-lb division.
When you’re struggling against limited fighters like Tony Harrison, Brian Castano, and Vanes Martirosyan, that’s a signal that you don’t have the talent to move up to 160 to take on far better fighters than those guys.
It’ll be interesting to see if Jermall tests himself against David Benavidez first before looking to fight Canelo. That’s a fight that Canelo has already told the media that he wants to happen before he considers facing one of them. Getting Jermall to go along with the program could be like pulling teeth.
Jermall wants nothing to do with fighting Benavidez, though, and you can understand where he’s coming from.
As poor as Jermall looked in his last fight against Juan Macias Montiel, he’d stand very little chance of beating Benavidez. Jermall’s stamina has looked poor lately, perhaps due to all the weight he packs on between fights.
He’s been looking VERY chunky between fights, like a small, fat heavyweight. That’s got to be hard for Jermall to lose that weight to continue campaigning at 160. Hence, he’s now interested in moving up to 168, albeit for a big-money fight against Canelo.
I don’t know what Jermall has been eating to get so fat in between fights, but he needs to lay off. He might even have problems making 168, given how flabby he’s looking.
Jermell (35-1-1, 19 KOs) would be wise to move up to 160 after his victory over Castano (17-1-2, 12 KOs) last Saturday night in their rematch at the Dignity Health Sports Park in Carson, California.
If Jermell, 31, stays at 154 any longer, he’ll need to worry about Terence Crawford. The latter is coming up in weight and in a position to become his immediate mandatory challenger for his WBO 154-lb title.
With Crawford holding the WBO 147-lb belt, he can use the organization’s rule to become mandatory in the next weight class against Jermll. While Jermell is an excellent fighter, he would be up against it in taking on a talented guy like Crawford and might lose to him.
Jermell struggled in both fights against Castano and had similar problems against Tony Harrison, suggesting that he might get beaten by Crawford.
Jermell would likely lose badly to Crawford, and given his lack of interest in fighting him, it suggests that he realizes he can’t beat this guy.
It would make sense for Jermell to move up to 160 for a big-money fight against Gennadiy Golovkin if offered to him, but that’s the only reason.
Other than Golovkin, there’s no one at 160 for Jermell to fight that’s popular enough to bring him a good payday.
If he fights the solid guys at 160, he’ll surely lose because he doesn’t throw enough shots, and he has a lot of habit habits that would get him knocked out—for example, going to the ropes and shelling up.
The scoring for last night’s fight between Charlo and Castano was terrible. 89-82 and 88-83 were dreadfully poor scores for that fight, as it was much closer.
With that type of scoring, Jermell might get lucky if he moves up to 160 to fight Janibek or Andrade, but he likely gets knocked out by both of those fights, including Golovkin.
