By Sean Jones: Eddie Hearn says he now thinks Canelo Alvarez will face Jermall Charlo in his next fight in September after speaking to the Mexican star’s team.
Hearn states that the Charlo fight still isn’t a given, as Dmitry Bivol, Badou Jack, Jaime Munguia, and Edgar Berlanga are also in play for his next bout.
If Canelo takes the fight with Jermall, it will surly anger many in the boxing public, as they would see this as another cherry pick of the highest order, worse even than Alvarez’s last opponent John Ryder.
Charlo has been slurring in interviews, making some people wonder if he’s punch drunk or has a drinking problem.
Given the nasty witches brew combination of Jermall’s slurring, two years out of the ring at a horrible performance against the ham & egger Juan Macias Montiel, Canelo is making it clear that he’s done with fighting the best after what Dmitry Bivol did to him last year in Las Vegas.
With that said, Hearn believes the unbeaten WBC middleweight champion Jermall (32-0, 22 KOs) will be the one Canelo chooses, making some boxing fans happy while angering others.
The choice of the 33-year-old Charlo will upset the knowledgeable fans because they know that the Texas native has been inactive for two years, sitting idle and dealing with an injury problem and other issues.
Charlo looked average in his last fight against Juan Macias Montiel in 2021, and it’s reasonable to assume that he’ll be far worse if he faces Canelo (59-2-2, 39 KOs) in September without at least one tune-up.
As bad as Charlo looked against Montiel, it would be too risky to put him in a tune-up if he could get a massive payday against Canelo hanging in the balance.
“That’s the big fight. Mexico vs. Puerto Rico, but you’ve got to earn,” said Eddie Hearn to Fighthype about Edgar Berlanga needing to earn the Canelo Alvarez fight.
“Can you beat Jason Quigley and go into a Canelo fight? Maybe but really to make a big fight, you’ve got to beat high level opposition.
“Yeah, I believe so. Look, from our side, our fight to make was Dmitry Bivol. It doesn’t look like that fight’s going to get made. So it looks like he’s going to fight [Jermall Charlo. I don’t know, but I think you’ll see him in September,” said Hearn when asked if Canelo would still fight.
It’s not a complete shock that Canelo is going in the direction of Jermall because he likely figures that this is his best chance of beating him.
If Canelo waits until Jermall gets a few fights under his belt, he might get back to where he was before he went off the grid two years ago, and there’s no way that he’d beat him.
The way Canelo looked in his last two fights against Ryder and 41-year-old Gennadiy Golovkin, even Jermall at 80%, would be too much for the Mexican star.
Canelo’s stamina is so bad that he’ll be no match for Jermaall if he can get somewhat close to the fighter that he once was before he went missing in action [MIA] two years ago.
“There’s the Badou Jack fight, maybe Edgar Berlanga, maybe Jaime Munguia, maybe Dmitry Bivol. But he’s still got a lot of options, but my guess right now from what I’m seeing and speaking to the team is that [Jermall] Charlo will be next for them in September,” Hearn said about Team Canelo.
The fact that Hearn has no clue who Canelo will be fighting makes you wonder if he’s no longer held in high esteem by the star. Could it be that Canelo is somehow blaming Hearn for the fiasco against Bivol? It’s not Hearn’s fault that Canelo lacked the talent to defeat Bivol and was made to look like a rank amateur on the night.
