By Adam Baskin: Stephen Espinoza of Showtime believes that Jermell Charlo will adjust well to moving up to 168 to take on undisputed super middleweight champion Canelo Alvarez on September 30th.
The 5’11” Jermell, who is a 170-pounder in size, has always been huge for the 154-lb division and efficiently could have campaigned at 160 for his entire career.
For the casual boxing fans who feel that Jermell (35-1-1, 19 KOs) is making a huge jump by moving up two weight classes from 154 to 168, they don’t realize how big he is.
If Jermell had fought at 160 his entire career, he likely would have already fought these fighters:
- Demetrius Andrade
- Gennadiy Golovkin
- Canelo Alvarez
- Carlos Adames
- Janibek Alimkhanuly
- Chris Eubank Jr.
- Jaime Munguia
Of course, Charlo isn’t as big as super middleweights like David Benavidez, but that guy is essentially a light heavyweight that boils down to 168 to get the more prominent names.
Charlo is about the same size as WBA super middleweight champion David Morrell Jr. and a perfect fit for the 168-lb division.
Jermell should have been fighting at middleweight all along, but he’s stayed at 154, which has limited his growth in some ways.
Size won’t be a factor
“We’re going to see is that he’s going to look pretty natural. I don’t think he’s going to be 168,” said Stephen Espinoza on the Showtime Boxing podcast about Jermell Charlo being comfortable size-wise fighting at super middleweight against Canelo Alvarez.
“Probably somewhere in the mid-160s, low to mid-160s. We’ll find out on fight night. There are going to be differentiators. There are going to be points of leverage between the two parties.”
If you saw how big Jermell looked at the kick-off press conference, he will likely be in the low 170s on fight night against Canelo rather than in the mid-160s, like Espinoza is talking about.
170 lbs is where Jermell rehydrates for his fights at 154, so it doesn’t seem logical to assume he would choose to come in around 165 for a fight with Canelo.
“I don’t think weight and size will be one of them. I don’t think that will be a factor in the fight,” said Espinoza.
Canelo knows what he’s up against
“You can take a big risk, and I control my career as well. I don’t got no disrespect for the man. He’s a legend. You got to give props for the dude,” said Jermell to Showtime about why he wasn’t trash-talking Canelo during their kick-off press conference in New York.
Fighting Canelo isn’t a big risk for a talented fighter like Jermell, who is fighting at a higher level than the Mexican star.
The one that is taking aa big risk is Canelo because he’s lost a lot from his game since his first two wars with Gennadiy Golovkin in 2017 & 2018.
“It’s a challenge, a great challenge. Thank God for all these hating a** fans who are always talking crazy. They prep me into being able to handle an opponent like Canelo, saying crazy s**t too,” said Jermell.
“I’m humble and know who I am and what I bring to the ring. He knows what he’s got on his hands, and we’re going to do what we must,” said Jermell about Canelo.
If Canelo doesn’t know what he’s up against, he will be in for a huge shock on September 30th when he gets inside the ring with Jermell.
This fight could be an extension of Charlo’s rematch with Brian Castano from a year ago, with Jermell dominating with his movement & combination punching.
Canelo will have to significantly improve his game from what we’ve seen of him in his last three fights to win against Jermell.
