By Dan Ambrose: Eddie Hearn predicts that Jermall Charlo won’t be competitive against Canelo Alvarez in September due to the 2+ years of inactivity since his last fight in July 2021.
That’s too much time out of the ring for anybody to be competitive against an elite fighter like Canelo (59-2-2, 39 KOs), especially when your last fight was a horrible one against Juan Macias Montiel.
Hearn says that Canelo has earned the right to fight whomever he wants. So he doesn’t have a problem with him facing the undefeated Charlo (32-0, 22 KOs), who, up until he took his two-year break from boxing, was considered among the elite of the sport.
Canelo still hasn’t officially named Charlo as his next opponent. According to Hearn, Charlo, 33, is considered the frontrunner, but Badou Jack and Dmitry Biviol still have the possibility of being chosen by Canelo.
Hearn says Charlo didn’t look like he was in shape and ready to fight soon when he saw his appearance this week talking to Demetrius Andrade on social media. Of course, that doesn’t mean Charlo can’t get in top shape in eight weeks’ time if he’s dedicated and makes it through training camp without suffering an injury.
“I don’t think it’s necessarily the direction that he wants to take, but you know, I think with the Bivol fight stalling, I think the [Jermall] Charlo fight is probably the favorite and frontrunner,” said Eddie Hearn to Fight Hub TV about Canelo Alvarez’s next fight in September.
Bivol isn’t stalling. He wants to fight for Canelo’s 168-lb championship, but the Mexican star doesn’t want that to happen because he feel he’ll be criticized for draining him.
“I spoke to Eddy Reynoso yesterday,” Hearn said. “We didn’t really talk much about the Charlo fight. That’s his business. Obviously, if he takes that fight, we’re not involved with that.
“We’ll just work with him on the next one or the plans for the next one. But Bivol was the fight that he wanted, but we can’t make it happen at the moment. So until we can make it happen, he has to look at his other options and it sounds like Charlo is the favorite of those.
“The way I look at it is like this. Canelo is always going to get criticism. I think he’s earned the right to fight whoever he wants. Now it’s up to you if you want to watch it. I don’t think you can really criticize a Charlo fight. I don’t think you can criticize a Badou Jack fight. I don’t think you can criticize a Bivol fight or a Benavidez fight.
“They’re all elite fighters but you can have your opinion on it. You can say that Charlo has been out for two years. That’s actually the easiest of them. ‘Oh Badou Jack’s never really beaten anyone of major note,’ and you know blah-blah, but that’s just opinion.
“So, he’s [Canelo] earned the right to fight whoever he wants and I think they’re all solid fights. Don’t do that too much. It’s not good for your health [reading social media critics].
“He was awful,” said Hearn about Jermall Charlo not looking good against Juan Macias Montiel in his last fight two years ago in 2021. You can’t expect Charlo to be competitive against Canelo in a September fight coming off two years like what we saw in the Montiel fight.
“I saw him [Charlo] on FaceTime with Demetrius Andrade. He didn’t look like he was very close to being able to fight, but he’s a good fighter, Charlie. I know he’s a good character, and good luck to him,” said Hearn.
