By Dan Ambrose: A thin, slow, sluggish & atrophied-looking Jermall Charlo began training for his comeback today in Hoston, Texas, to resume his stalled-out career.

Charlo looked slow, weaker & thin today while hitting the pads with his trainer. With WBA ‘regular’ super middleweight champion David Morrell looking on, Jermall worked out with trainer Ronnie Shields.

Jermall could soon face either David Benavidez or Canelo Alvarez at 168, so he must start training camp to fight one of those two.

Jermall (32-0, 22 KOs) still possesses his WBC middleweight title despite 22 months of inactivity, but it’s possible that he could vacate the belt to go up in weight for greener pastures at 168. That’s where the fights are at for Charlo.

If Jermall stays at 160, he’ll have to defend against his WBC mandatory Carlos Adames, and that’s a fight he’d likely lose at this point in his career coming off such a long layoff.

Charlo looked terrible in his last fight against Juan Macias Montiel in June 2021. He barely beat Montiel, a fighter blown out in two rounds by Jaime Munguia and three by Carlos Adames.

If you’re being kind to Jermall, you can blame his poor performance on whatever that has kept him out of the ring for the last two years. It was reported that Charlo had had a back problem and personal issues that have led to two years of inactivity.

Whatever the problem is, you got to hope that it doesn’t return after he gets a nice payday for his comeback fight, be it against Benavidez, Canelo, or whoever.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FiWmCwRn460

It would be a crime for Jermall to fight either of those two because he wouldn’t stand a chance due to his long layoff.

If this Muhammad Ali or Sugar Ray Leonard that we were talking about, two years of inactivity wouldn’t be an issue, but this Charlo, a flawed fighter from the jump, with a paper-thin resume with only one decent name on it in Sergiy Derevyanchenkio.

Fans will want to see Charlo fight someone like Caleb Plant, Benavidez, or Morrell in his first fight back, but PBC will likely take it slow and give him two or three tune-ups.

Again, whatever the problem was that led to Charlo being inactive for two years could return. Hopefully, that’s not the case because it’s improbable that his career will survive another two or more years of layoff.

As it is, it’ll be a miracle if Charlo can return to his winning ways because he’s been out of the game for too long to pick it back up and start where he left off.