By Dan Ambrose: WBC president Mauricio Sulaiman says inactive 160-lb champion Jermall Charlo will be fighting soon. In the meantime, the WBC has no intentions of stripping the 33-year-old Jermall, who hasn’t made a title defense in 25 months since June 2021.
Sulaiman says he’s unsure if Jermall (32-0, 23 KOs) will take a tune-up or defend against his WBC mandatory Carlos Adames. It’s up to Charlo to decide who he’ll face next.
Assuming Jermall does take a tune-up when he returns to the ring, it’s possible that he may not get around to making his mandatory defense against Adames until 2024, if at all.
You got to think that if Jermall is still in the pipeline for a Canelo Alvarez fight, that would be the second bout that he would take after a tune-up.
The World Boxing Council has received much criticism from fans for failing to give Jermall their ‘Champion in Recess’ designation that they normally give to their belt-holders dealing with injuries or personal problems.
Charlo has been able to sit on his title, preventing all the contenders in the WBC’s top 15 ranking from competing for the belt.
Jermall Charlo to fight soon
Chris Mannix: “Jermall Charlo, he is still the WBC middleweight champion. He has not fought now in more than two years,” said Chris on Boxing with Mannix Youtube channel.
“He recently had to withdraw from a planned fight with Canelo Alvarez because of some personal issues that he has been dealing with. As of right now, there are no plans for Jermall Charlo to fight in the foreseeable future. Why is Jermall Charlo still the WBC middleweight champion?
Mauricio Sulaiman: “The WBC takes every single case separately. We administer every single situation, and we have been very close to Jermall Charlo’s case. First, he had an injury when he was going to fight [Maciej] Sulecki. That was a hand injury.”
“Eventually, he was involved in some mental wellness situations and mental health, and the WBC has looked into this matter.
“We have addressed it by ordering an interim championship with Carlos Adames becoming the interim champion, and we have been supporting Charlo’s situation, and we will continue to support him.
“I am in close contact with him and his brother. I believe he will be fighting in the near future and resume his career. In summary, we will always be with our champion, and with our boxers, especially in the bad times.”
Mannix: “Okay, I can respect that because it’s very clear from what I’ve been told that you obviously know that Jermall Charlo is going through some issues in his personal life, but you seem, Mauricio, have a mechanism in place to deal with a situation like this.
“You have used the ‘Champion in Recess’ designation a lot over the years. Recent examples that I can talk about is when Oleksandr Usyk moved up to heavyweight; you used it on him, calling him ‘Champion in Recess’ for a while. You used it on Devin Haney when he was injured and couldn’t fight.
“You then reversed that ruling and reinstated him without Haney actually fighting for his belt again. Currently, Oscar Rivas is the Bridgerweeight ‘Champion in Recess,’ a designation the WBC gave Rivas until he confirms his decision about his boxing future. Why should Jermall Charlo not be held to the same standard?”
WBC to wait on Charlo
Sulaiman: “As I said, we judge every single case separately. Usyk informed the WBC about his intentions to compete at heavyweight. So we gave him that option. It was imminent that he was not going to fight because he was going to go to heavyweight. So that’s what we did with Usyk.
“Rivas has a detached retina. He has to retire from boxing, unfortunately. We gave him the opportunity if he wanted to return, but that’s not going to be the case. The other one, Haney, as you can see, we put him in ‘Champion in Recess’ and then put him back as champion.
“Every single case is dealt with differently. I have been in talks with [Jermall] Charlo about him fighting during this year and in the near future. We’re going to still wait and see when he’s going to come back.
“We did address the situation with having Adames as interim [WBC middleweight] champion. He just fought a week ago against [Julian ‘J-Rock’] Williams, so there is activity in the division.”
Mannix: “Okay, you mentioned Carlos Adames, and since Jermall Charlo fought back in 2021, Adames has fought four times. He won the interim title two fights ago, as you mentioned, and defended it in his last fight against Williams. How is this action fair to Carlos Adames?”
Sulaiman: “Well, Carlos Adames is making good money. He just fought a week ago. He’s very happy being the WBC interim champion.”
Mannix: “I think he would disagree. He wants to be full champion.”
WBC to continue supporting Jermall
Sulaiman: “I just talked to him today. He’s happy, he’s appreciative of the WBC, and he understands that we’re supporting a human being in Charlo.
“If we see a change in Charlo and see things differently, we will make a decision. But at this time, I am convinced that he will be fighting soon, and Adames is not being disrespected in any way, and he’s happy with it.”
Mannix: “Could Charlo’s next fight be against Carlos Adames?”
Sulaiman: “It could be. As I said, I am in communication with them. It could be Adames, or it could be a comeback fight, defending his title, and then we order a fight between the interim champion and the champ.”
Mannix: “So my theory is Jermall Charlo is the WBC middleweight champion. Canelo Alvarez is the WBC super middleweight champion. My theory is that the WBC has wondered all along if those two are going to fight, which they’ve been in talks for well over a year now, that they would want the WBC 160-lb champion vs. the 168-lb champion, and that’s why Jermall Charlo still has his title.”
Sulaiman: “No, not necessarily. Charlo wanted to fight Canelo four years ago when Charlo was an interim middleweight champion, and he waited for that opportunity. Eventually, that fight didn’t materialize.
“Charlo has been waiting for a long time for a big fight. This situation right now for Charlo is exclusive of the WBC support of his personal situation. He can fight Canelo, even without being the champion. It’s a big fight, but this is much more before the Canelo possible fight was in the scenario.”
https://youtu.be/XYLRTzIBvdQ?t=5