By Adam Baskin: Inactive middleweight champion popped into Friday’s Caleb Plant vs. David Benavidez to get some badly-needed visibility and to throw out a few pearls of wisdom to the media about various fights, one of which being the April 22nd match between Ryan Garcia and Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis.
Jermall says he’s hoping Ryan (23-0, 19 KOs) beats Tank, but he doesn’t think he will. Mall wants Ryan to win because he likes pulling for the underdog fighters, and he notes that Kingry definitely fits that category for this match.
Jermall feels that the ONLY way the unbeaten 24-year-old Ryan beats Gervona (28-0, 26 KOs) is if he closes his eyes and connects with a big left hook like the one Danny Garcia knocked out the faded ring legend Erik Morales with in the fourth round in 2012.
Tank’s management where able to put Ryan at a huge disadvantage by placing a 10-lb rehydration clause in the contract in addition to the 136-lb catchweight. Interestingly, Jermall didn’t mention the two weight handicaps Gervonta has going for him in his fight with Ryan.
Rather than Tank fighting Ryan at 140, he used his A-side muscle to get him to melt down to 136.
If that isn’t enough to weaken Ryan, Tank has a 10-lb rehydration clause with an upper limit of 146 lbs for the secondary weigh-in on the morning of their fight on April 22nd.
Jermall has been off the grid for the last two years, not fighting and rarely making public appearances since his win over Juan Macias Montiel in 2021.
For some reason, the World Boxing Council has let Jermall Charlo keep his WBC 160-lb title without stripping him. It’s almost as if Jermall’s WBC title has been a keepsake, a remembrance from when he used to compete.
The WBC has been kind enough to let Jermall hold onto their title without defending it for the last two years, and basically freezing the careers of the contenders during this time without any of them being able to fight for their middleweight title.
“I got Ryan. I’m a rangy fighter, man, and I’m always going for the underdog. Ryan is definitely the underdog in this fight,” said Jermall Charlo to Fighthype, picking Ryan Garcia to defeat Gervonta Davis on April 22nd.
“I just like the underdog. It has nothing to do personally with Ryan or race or black. I don’t care about none of that. It has nothing to do with none of that. I just like the underdog.
“I think it’s Ryan’s chance to do what he got to do, but do I think he’ll beat Tank? No, but who am I going for? Ryan. Does that make sense? F**k it, don’t worry about it.
“I think Ryan can pull it off. Is that enough confidence? I think he can pull it off. It’s going to be an accident. Do you remember when Danny Garcia knocked out Danny Morales? [correction: It was Erik Morales that Danny Garcia knocked out in the fourth round in October 2012. He never fought anyone by the name that Charlo mentions here].
“He closed his eyes and threw the left hook that knocked him out. It’s going to be like that if it happens, but whatever,” said Jermall Charlo.
