By Sean Jones: Jermell Charlo already has his murderers row of fighters picked out on his list for who he wants to fight after he dethrones undisputed super middleweight championship Canelo Alvarez on September 30th.
First on the list for Jermell is WBC interim 168-lb champion David Benavidez, who has been begging for a fight against Canelo for the last five years.
From how Jermell (35-1-1, 19 KOs) is talking, he’s not going to avoid Benavidez (27-0, 23 KOs) because there’s no fear of the ‘Mexican Monster.’
Jermell’s hit list after beating Canelo:
1. David Benavidez
2. Caleb ‘Sweethands’ Plant
3. Terence ‘Omaha Fisherman’ Crawford
The fight against Crawford might take a while to come off, though, because Jermell will likely face Canelo in a rematch before he moves on to face ‘The Mexican Monster’ Benavidez and ‘Sweethands’ Plant.
We’re probably looking at 2025 or 2026 before Jermell will get around to fighting Crawford, and it’s unclear if the little ‘Omaha Fisherman’ will still be fighting by that point because he’ll be around 38, and that’s pretty old.
If Crawford messes up and fights Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis, he might lose and be removed from Jermell’s murderer’s row hit list.
Jermell right where he needs to be
“I think Tim Bradley has got a lot of hate towards a lot of things that people. When you dare to be great right now, you know you can’t worry about what Tim Bradley saying,” said Jermell Charlo to Fighthype about Tim Bradley questioning his punch resistance in moving up to 168 from 154.
“He don’t even know about PBC boxing and what we possess over here, and that’s why Al [Haymon] got us, and he signed us. Oh well, people are going to have their thoughts and say what they want to say.
“I can’t go back into living my life, trying to be that guy and try to think about what he’s thinking. I just focus on me, staying focused on the game plan, and work my a** off.
“It never happened because I was a risk-taking fight, a little less reward but as I accomplished more and proceeded to be the best I can, I was able to earn this place.
“It ain’t nothing new to me [about Canelo rating Jermell as better than his brother Jermall]. I heard it before. I fought tough competition, and I kind of heard that today, so I knew that’s kind of what he [Canelo] meant
“My brother’s good, he’s a champion, but I was the little train that always kept going.
It’s not the same at all. [Brian] Castano threw way more punches than I think Canelo throws. They both come forward though, so that is one thing that they do a lot alike. They come forward. Canelo throws the heavier shots but is a little bit slower.
“So I know Castano was more rapid punching basically as you could say you. I think that Canelo started boxing at an earlier age, which counted as his pro record.
“So I started at 17. He was moving fast, and when you know in the south, and you go to Mexico, you can get a bunch of fights you can fight every week over there. So they knew what they were doing from the beginning,” said Jermell.
Canelo still elite
“They did a good job, and now we’re here. He’s elite,” Charlo said. “I don’t think so because I really don’t see him washing out. I just see that everybody paying attention to the other people that are doing good because he finally got to a point where he was stable and calm at his and his skills.
“The loss to Bivol and all of that might have made some changes for him, but I think he’s still a super great fighter. He’s unique. He has his own skill set and his own style, and that’s going to be for me to go out and deal with.
“I think the Ring magazine and ESPN, they operate together, and they’re against me. They just don’t like me. They have some personal way that they feel about me. They create these rules as they go. They say you can’t be off for so long and all of this.
“Boxing was not like that when Floyd was going. Floyd would take some time off. He would box here and there; he would do his thing, and then, when you’re not attending to what they are asking for, or you’re not giving them the love.
“I don’t know. I rocked my belt, I show my appreciation, I give everything that they asked for I fight. I got an injury, and I couldn’t do nothing but take some time off.
“I want to get in there and keep making money every year that I’m healthy and young. I don’t want to be trying to wait around and look, but it’s okay. I’m Undisputed. I’m fighting another undisputed champion. I’m happy about that,” said Jermell.
Life is good for Charlo
“My life is good, I’m prevailing, and I finally get the fight that I deserve and the fight that’ll put me on a pinnacle to where people can’t stop talking about me,” said Jermell. “So once they realize that the Ring magazine will come back and apologize, ESPN is going to apologize, and everybody else going to do what they do.
“I don’t care. PBC is where it’s at. We’re in the big leagues over here. You see, everybody came over here now. So that’s what needs to be the focus,” said Jermell.
“It’s great. Anything I need from Al Hayman, he’s right there for me. Let’s fight; I’m down to fight,” said Jermell when asked what his thoughts were when he got the call offering him the Canelo fight. I got to get my s**t right, but I’m down to fight.
“The hand is good. The hand is on perfection, bro. Thanks for asking. I’m working on it. I’m still doing therapy; I’m still doing certain treatments to it, and making sure that they don’t have an issue when it
come down to fight night.
“It’ll let me know that I’m right where I should be, and if I need more work to do, then I’ve got more work to do, but a win over Canelo will stamp me in one of the greats.
“Then I take his belts, and then I got to fight the ‘Mexican monster’ [David Benavidez and I got to fight the Caleb Plants, and I got to fight all the big boys, right?
“So I’m going to have all the mother f***ers trying to fight me, and I got the little short Omaha [Terence Crawford]. Yeah, the fisherman, I guess, whatever you want to call him, the net carrier,” said Jermell.
