By Sean Jones: Showtime boss Stephen Espinoza let the cat out of the bag last Saturday night, revealing what many fans had already known that Jermall Charlo would get a shot at Canelo Alvarez as part of the Mexican star’s three-fight, $100M deal with PBC.
Canelo’s first fight of his lucrative deal will be against Jermell Charlo on September 30th. It remains to be seen if this fight will do big numbers on Showtime PPV.
If it bombs like Canelo’s last three fights against John Ryder, Gennadiy Golovkin, and Dmitry Bivol, it might be wise for PBC & Showtime to forget about using the inactive Jermall because that would be asking for trouble.
If Canelo-Jermell fails to deliver in the PPV buy department, it would be foolish to waste Canelo’s second fight on his three-fight deal with Premier Boxing Champions on Jermall.
As far as casual boxing fans go, the Charlo twins might as well be one person, and if they don’t care to purchase a fight involving Jermell, they sure as heck won’t want to see Jermall either.
He hasn’t fought in 2+ years and looked out of this world badly in his last performance in 2021 against Juan Macias Montiel. Hopefully, Jermall’s slurring of his speech in recent interviews isn’t permanent.
PBC might need to break the glass and hit the emergency button if fans turn up their noses at Canelo’s fight with Jermell by using David Benavidez as his second fight.
What’s unclear is whether Canelo has veto power to refuse the opponents that PBC picks out for him.
If Canelo has the right of refusal, he could turn down the fight with Benavidez and say no to other fights against David Morrell Jr and Dmitry Bivol and keep rejecting PBC’s options until they find someone he will agree on.
That could be a crummy deal for PBC, especially if Canelo selects the type of opponents he’s been recently with, Ryder and old past-his-prime Golovkin.
Jermall in the pipeline for Canelo fight
“It was Jermall wanting the fight [with Canelo Alvarez], but also realizing he’s got some things that he’s got to deal with over the next few months,” said Stephen Espinoza to Fighthype on why Jermall Charlo isn’t fighting Canelo Alvarez next.
“So Jermell has been talking just as much as Jermall about wanting the fight [with Canelo]. So it was an easy switch to make, and I think at some point in the future, Jermall Charlo gets the shot too.”
So there it is. Jermall will get “the shot too” against Canelo, but what fans expect? It was only obvious that Jermall would get a chance to fight Canelo as well because it’s a ‘revenge of the brother’ type of situation.
If PBC listened to the fans, they’d skip using the Charlo brothers and focus on quality by using David Benavidez for the first two fights and David Morrell Jr for the third.
Big Charlo still dealing with problems
“I think we’ll let Jermall take care of his personal business, but there are a lot of good fights for him at 160 or 168,” said Espinoza. “So there are plenty available for him whenever he’s ready.
“The important thing is to get everything straight with his family and personal life. As soon as he’s ready, we’ll get him back in the ring,” said Espinoza said about Jermall.
If it’s true that Jermall has been dealing with his personal problems for the past two years, what makes Espinoza think those issues will be resolved anytime soon?
You have to assume that if Jermall has been stuck on this same problem for the last 25 months, the only thing you can predict is that this will continue to endure.
“No, it’s going to be case by case because look, you know, the sport. It changes so often,” said Espinoza when asked if he knows who the other two names on Canelo’s three-fighter list with his contract with PBC.
That sounds like Espinoza is saying that Canelo’s second & third fights will depend on how well his first one does against Jermell. As I said, if it bombs, it’s reasonable to assume that PBC will forget about the idea of using the inactive Jermall because that could have an even worse outcome, with just a trickle of PPV buys coming in.
Canelo must face quality opposition
The best way for PBC to get the most out of their expensive three-fight deal with Canelo is to put his feet to the fire and force him to fight quality opponents in the second & third matches by insisting he faces two of these killers:
- David Benavidez
- Artur Beterbiev
- David Morrell Jr
- Dmitry Bivol
Canelo’s first fight of his three-fight deal with PBC should have been against one of those fighters instead of Jermell Charlo. The question is, why did PBC & Showtime ever agree on letting Canelo use Jermell as one of the fights of his expensive deal?
They’re giving him a freebie, and if he’s allowed to fight Jermall in his second match, that would be another soft job.
No more cherry-picking from Canelo, which he’s been doing consistently since 2018, with his fights against these guys:
– Rocky Fielding
– John Ryder
– Avni Yildirim
– Billy Joe Saunders
– Daniel Jacobs
– Caleb Plant
– Sergey Kovalev
– Gennadiy Golovkin – *41-years-old
“Who knows who’s going to be the best available opponent in six months or a year? So look, it’s really up to Canelo and his team, along with PBC, and we’ll take it one fight at a time.
“I think there are some people who look at it that way,” said Espinoza. “There are also other people that say it’s less of an adjustment in weight, even though I think both of them are of similar size,” said Espinoza when asked if Jermell’s confidence in victory over Canelo is a result of his having captured all the titles at 154, winning each fight by knockout.
“One guy [Jermell] has been making 154 regularly and it is an adjustment. So I think either one of them are really interchangeable. I think either of them has an equal chance against Canelo, and I think they both have a very good shot,” said Espinoza.
