By Sean Jones: Jermell Charlo says he wants to face Canelo Alvarez in December in a rematch after he defeats him on September 30th. A victory for Charlo would be a disaster for Canelo, who recently signed a three-fight deal with PBC.
There will be a tremendous amount of interest in a December rematch if Canelo loses to Jermell next month, but obviously, that’s not what PBC was hoping for when they signed Alvarez to a three-fight deal.
If Canelo loses this fight, he’ll have no choice but to fight Jermell again. Canelo swerved the rematch with Dmitry Bivol after losing to him last year. He can’t do that with Jermell because the fans won’t buy another hand injury excuse.
Jermell (35-1-1, 19 KOs) already has things planned out, with him beating undisputed super middleweight champion Canelo (59-2-2, 39 KOs) twice in a row and then returning to 154 to beat Terence Crawford in a title defense.
Charlo states that he’s got an excellent game plan for his fight with Canelo and feels confident that he’ll do the job on the Mexican star in their headliner on Showtime PPV at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
Jermell going to war
“I’m going up to 168 in a position that he should have been in,” said Jermell Charlo to Million Dollaz Worth of G about his brother Jermall, who should have been the one facing Canelo Alvarez on September 30th.
Jermall Charlo passed up on the fight with Canelo this time around, but if the Mexican fighter wins, that match-up will likely take place next May.
Boxing fans don’t want to see Canelo fight Jermall, as he doesn’t look all there anymore. People want to see Canelo fight David Benavidez or Terence Crawford.
Canelo not learning
In a leaked video today of Canelo sparring for the fight, he’s loading up on the same single punches that used in his last three performances. Jermell says that approach isn’t going to work on him.
This indicates that Canelo isn’t learning from recent poor performances, and he’s become like an old dog that can’t learn new tricks.
That happens with old fighters, and Canelo is just another example of a guy who can’t change how he fights. If the Mexican star doesn’t focus on throwing more volume, Jermell will take advantage of his low work rate to win a decision on September 30th.
They lose their ability to adapt and continue to make the same mistakes fight after fight until they’re sent into retirement. In Canelo’s case, his golf habit likely compounds the problem because he loves that sport.
“They obviously see a different animal in me. That’s why they’re putting me in there,” said Charlo. “I’m going to stand on my tip toes when I get in there on the 30th. I’m coming to go to war and be smart. I’m down for whatever.”
If Jermell is going to war with Canelo, as he says, he’s going to need to be careful because every shot that Alvarez throws will be at 100% power capacity.
We saw that in Canelo’s last fight against John Ryder, and he did a lot of damage to the Brit, knocking him down in the fifth and breaking his nose.
“He’s trying to knock something out,” said Jermell about the way Canelo loads up on his shots. “I think 20,000,” Charlo said about the estimated seating capacity of the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. “A Charlo night.”
Charlo to win over Alvarez’s fans
“And I’m going to have them all on my side at the end of the fight,” Jermell said about a potential crowd of 12,000 Mexican fans for his fight against Canelo. “We got a game plan for this s**t. Yeah, I do. I’ll do that [shout viva Mexico].”
It would be surprising if Jermell wins over Canelo’s Mexican fans on September 30th, and the only way that will happen is if he battles him in the trenches in a back-and-forth contest. Jermell used a lot of movement in his last fight against Brian Castano, who is short & stocky with the same physique as Canelo.
“I’m going to give them what they want. I got some tactics,” said Jermell when asked how he was going to get Canelo out of there on Saturday night. I’m not going to tell you what it is, but I’m strong like that, though.”
Dmitry Bivol created the blueprint on how to beat Canelo by using a strong jab, and throwing four-punch combinations all night long. If Jermell wants to beat Canelo, he needs to follow that blueprint and not veer away from it.
If Jermell stays on the outside & moves a lot, the way that Gennadiy Golovkin did in his trilogy match with Canelo, he’ll lose the fight. To beat the superstar Canelo, you have to make it one-sided.
“It’s a possible ‘Don’t blink’ situation every time I fight, every time I’m in there. I’m going to get this dude out of there. He’s going to want a rematch, and then I’m going to go get your other boy out of there,” said Jermell.
Canelo-Jermell rematch in December?
“I’m at a good point in my career. I want to fight him in December again and then start the next year somewhere around there and knock out your boy [Terence Crawford],” said Charlo. “I’m knocking everybody off. That’s what it’s about.”
If Jermell wins on September 30th, Canelo will probably take the rest of the year, lick his wounds, and then come back next May to fight on Cinco de Mayo. That’s assuming that Canelo doesn’t suffer another injury that requires him to take a tune-up fight like we saw when he cho to face Ryder instead of Bivol.
“My boy, Errol [Spence], got to fight him [Crawford] again. He wants his rematch at a bigger weight. You can’t drain me. Yeah, he was going to keep coming,” Jermell said about Spence, who would have kept fighting if the referee hadn’t stopped the contest in the ninth round.
It would be good for Jermell to give Spence some solid advice to forget about Crawford. Jermell should be the one who avenges that loss by fighting Crawford at 168 or 154 to take care of Spence’s dirty work.
“It could have been a lot of different situations. I know he trained his a** off, and I know that weight is not his weight no more,” said Charlo about the 33-year-old Spence having outgrown the 147-lb weight class.
“That’s the only thing I can say. I don’t want to give no excuses. That’s kind of crazy [Spence staying at 147 for eleven years since he turned professional in 2012.
“I don’t know, bro. I’ll do whatever. I can make it,” said Jermell when asked if he can return to the 154-lb division after he faces Canelo at 168. “I’m not like those other fighters that got that little curse you are talking about.
“I can do it [move up to 168 and then return to 154]. I got something in the system that nobody got. I got the formula. I got a fat a** gym, a nice crib, nine or ten cars, and a busload of money. I’m good.
“My Lambo [Lamborghini],” said Jermell when asked what’s his favorite car.
