By Adam Baskin: Jermall Charlo has been sitting on his WBC middleweight title for the last two years without defending it, making him a prime candidate to be stripped of his belt by the sanctioning body.
Some boxing fans believe the main reason Jermall hasn’t been stripped is that he’s popular. If he didn’t have a fan base, he would have been stripped ages ago and just be an ex-champion.
Charlo (32-0, 22 KOs) last defended his WBC 160-lb belt in June 2021, beating Juan Macias Montiel in a grueling war that saw the Texas native repeatedly hurt in the later rounds.
Since that fight, 19 months have elapsed without the 32-year-old Jermall entering the ring to defend his WBC belt.
Why hasn’t Jermall Charlo been stripped?
The word is that Charlo has a back injury that has kept him from defending his belt, which is fine, but the WBC should have already given him the old ‘Champion in Recess’ tag and elevated interim champ Carlos Adames to the full belt holder in the meantime.
Why on earth hasn’t the WBC done the right thing and ripped the belt from the injured Jermall so that the 160-lb belt could stay in circulation and be fought over?
Can you imagine an NFL super bowl winner choosing to sit out of action for two solid years, freezing the ability of other teams to compete for that trophy because they had too many injured players? It wouldn’t happen. That trophy would stay in circulation.
The WBC has dropped the ball by not allowing the 15 contenders in their upper rankings to compete for the middleweight belt that Jermall has been sitting on like a goose warming her eggs, waiting for them to hatch.
“He hasn’t defended his WBC middleweight title since June 2021. Carlos Adames, the interim champ, is waiting for his shot,” said Mike Coppinger on Twitter about Jermall Charlo not having defended his WB middleweight title in roughly two years.
The magical question is, how long will the WBC wait before they finally strip Jermall of his title? Will it be another two years? If so, what about all the contenders in the WBC’s rankings that have lost all that time in their careers without having the opportunity to compete for a title that has been frozen due to Jermall’s inactivity? How do you give those fighters that time back to them?