By Adam Baskin: Fans on social media are saying Jermell Charlo is “faking” his broken left hand to weasel out of having to defend his undisputed light middleweight championship against his powerful nightmarish WBO mandatory challenger Tim Tszyu on January 28th in Las Vegas.
In a press release last week, it was revealed that the 32-year-old Jermell had suffered two broken bones in his left hand while sparring in the previous week.
The question is, would Charlo fake an injury to give the slip to Tszyu to avoid getting beaten by him? A legion of fans on social media seems to think so.
Tszyu is the kind of puncher that could wreck Charlo’s short reign as the undisputed champion and stop the money train in its tracks by knocking out the famous four-belt champ.
Jermell is one of the nouveau riche, living a glorious lifestyle in his mansion in Texas. Beautiful cars, sharp clothes, and living the life that fans can only dream about. However, Tszyu (21-0, 15 KOs) is someone that can ruin all that by beating knocking him out and taking over the perch as the king of the 154-lb division.
Fans want to see Charlo’s x-rays
The doubting boxing fans on social media are demanding to see the x-rays of the hand because they believe Charlo (35-1-1, 19 KOs) has a fake injury and is just trying to stall Tszyu out until he gives up or gets beaten while taking a tune-up while he waits for Jermell to slowly heal. Charlo showing off a cast isn’t good enough. Fans want to see the x-rays!
Showing the x-rays of the broken limb would be a wise thing for Charlo to do at this point because boxing fans will remain doubtful about his injured left hand until he does.
A doctor’s note might work in the meantime if Jermell is unable to gain access to the x-rays of his left hand. Some fans say that Charlo saved himself from having his body put in a cast by the hard-hitting Tszyu with this injury to his hand.
Some fans say that Jermell made sure he didn’t lose to Tszyu by coming down with a broken hand to escape his fate. Of course, that would be utterly pathetic if Charlo did that.
Jermell didn’t help himself by failing to report the injury to the fans immediately. Charlo hurt his left hand the previous week on a Tuesday but then didn’t report it until late last week.