By Dan Ambrose: Undisputed junior middleweight champion Jermell Charlo says his doubters are motivating him, even more to defeat four-belt 168-lb champion Canelo Alvarez on September 30th.
Many boxing fans feel that Jermell (35-1-1, 19 KOs) that he’s too light to defeat Canelo because he’s coming up from the 154 division. However, as Charlo points out, people don’t know what his walking around weight is because if they did, they wouldn’t think he’s too small.
If fans saw how much bigger Jermell looked compared to Canelo this week in their press tour in New York & Los Angeles, they would dismiss the notion that Charlo is too small.
If anyone is too small, it’s the 5’8″ Canelo (59-2-2, 39 KOs), and he’s going to have to figure out how to deal with the height & reach of the 5’11” Jermell.
From what Jermell is saying, he’s going to use hiss jab & movement to outbox Canelo. He’s not going to stand in front of him with his hands down by side like we saw from Billy Joe Saunders.
Jermell Charlo: “I want to be great. There’s no other way in this new era, this new generation of boxing, for me to step up and be great and be greater than I’ve already became,” said Charlo to First Take on why he’s chosen to fight Canelo Alvarez on September 30th.
“Being undisputed is great; it’s everything. It’s what every boxer’s dream is, but in order for me to maximize my potential for myself and to be the best that I can be, I would have to go and face Canelo Alvarez.
“It’s two weight divisions above me, but that don’t matter. We can put in the right nutrition, the right doctors, and the right people around us in our training camp, and we’re on,” said Charlo.
Stephen A. Smith: “A lot of us assumed he [Canelo] was fighting your brother [Jermall], who is undefeated at 168, for crying out loud. You were like, ‘No, it was always me. It was never going to be my brother. It was going to be me.’
“How long have you been pursuing this fight, and how shocked were you when Canelo decided to do this?”
Jermell: “I got the phone call; we were in the process. I could have made the decision to fight a mandatory [Tim Tszyu], or I could have taken a chance of losing a belt or so, and I could have kept it in the background and let it happen.
“I let it manifest and unfold, and unfortunately, you got to have a really good connection with Mr. Al Haymon in order to be able to get the good inside scoop on that. I kept it quiet. I did what I had to do and the fight got made.”
Smith: “Let’s be real about something here. Again, you’re 35-1-1. I ain’t going to bring up the loss to Tony Harrison because I think that, first of all, I thought you actually won that fight, but I thought you could have won more convincingly had you been more active.
“I thought you weren’t as active as you normally were, and then obviously he got on your damn nerves, and you came back, and you handled your business in the rematch.
“You did the same against [Brian] Castano obviously because you had a draw with him in the first go-round you went up against him. But when we look at you against Canelo Alvarez, a lot of people are saying you’re undersized, he’s a body snatcher, he’s a counter puncher.
“We know he’s incredibly experienced with 59 fights in his career. How are you going to convince folks, or do you even feel you need to convince folks how you’re going to win this fight?”
Jermell: “I don’t need to convince anybody. I feel like I’m always going to be questioned or under-dogged, or whatever it is, and I’m fine with that. That makes me fight harder, that inspires me, or motivates me to push myself in a ring and take any chances that I got to take.
“I don’t worry about what they think about size because they don’t know what I walk around at. I’m not going to go and spread that to everybody. Just know that I’ll be prepared. The hand is good. I feel good I’m ready to fight, and that’s all that matters.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UFLf4f9_svw