By Craig Daly: Andre Dirrell says it’s important that Jermell Charlo fights without fear and shows no respect to Canelo Alvarez because he won’t win if he’s fighting scared against the hard-hitting Mexican star.
Canelo (59-2-2, 39 KOs) will walk Jermell down, work his midsection, and score a knockout if he fears letting his hands go.
Dirrell feels that it’s important that Charlo (35-1-1,19 KOs) use his feet, as he won’t be able to stand in the pocket and match Canelo punch for punch.
If Jermell were a natural 168-pounder and not a guy that is coming up from 154, staying in the pocket would make sense, but he’s not accustomed to getting hit by a fighter with Canelo’s type of punching power.
Dirrell thinks that Jermell’s power will carry up with him to 168, so he’ll be able to do damage with his shots, but he doesn’t see him being able to knock out Canelo.
No one has done that against Alvarez, and he’s been in with bigger punchers than Jermell, with his fights against Sergey Kovalev, Miguel Cotto, Gennadiy Golovkin & Daniel Jacobs.
Jermell must control his emotions
“I’ll be honest. I don’t like his attitude. I think it can get him in a lot of trouble, and if he can’t control his attitude, which I don’t know, but if he can’t control his emotions when he steps in the ring,” he’s going to be in trouble,” said Andre Dirrell to ESNEWS about Jermell Charlo. “That could be the setup for the come-up for Canelo.
Jermell is one of those types of fighters who retaliates with anger when he’s hit, so Canelo can take advantage of that if he can’t control his emotions.
In the build-up for this fight, Jermell has been less agitated than he normally is, making things a little more tolerable to be around him. Of course, Canelo hasn’t been trash-talking Charlo, so there’s no reason for him to be going off.
“Again, we’re about to see something big for Charlo. I ain’t counting Charlo out,” said Dirrell. “I never did, I never will. I promise you, I’m not counting him out.
“We’re going to see something from Charlo that we haven’t seen before. This fight is going to be much better than a lot of the world is anticipating.
“I don’t want to have any bias about this fight. I don’t care about Canelo, and I don’t care about Charlo. I want to give you a non-biased opinion when it comes to this fight.
“Does Charlo have a good chin? We saw Castano catch him twice. Yeah, I think it will carry out,” said Dirrell when asked if he thinks Jermell Charlo’s power will carry to 168.
If Jermell chooses to sit down on his punches, he’s going to leave himself open to being countered. That’s one of the reasons why Kovalev and Golovkni didn’t load up as much because they were fearful of being countered by Canelo.
“Listen, when you have something big to the table when you have to rise to the occasion, this is everything Charlo is with that ‘Lions Only’ mentality,” said Dirrell.
“The difference between them is Jermell has that ‘Lions Only’ mentality, but Jermall has that calm mentality. He’s easier to deal with. He’s a little more compassionate,” said Dirrell.
Charlo must use his feet
“Because this fight is going to be so good, I don’t want to disrespect either one of these fighters,” said Dirrell. “I know Canelo isn’t getting knocked out. If Charlo opens up while Canelo is shooting, because if you watch the Castano fight. He’s opening up at odd times, but luckily, he’s not getting caught with anything big.”
Charlo hasn’t fought a counterpuncher like Canelo before, and that’s made things easier for him to open up with his power shots without worrying about getting caught.
“The first fight that happened. In the second fight, he showed what he really has,” said Dirrell. “I’m telling you. This fight is not farfetched. It’s going to be a good fight. I still got Canelo.
“Charlo is going to have to use his feet. He’s going to have to have more movement than Canelo has. He’s going to have to shoot off of those legs because Canelo is not going to shoot unless he has that shot,” said Dirrell.
As Dirrell says, Jermell will need to punch on the move and not be a stationary target for Canelo by sitting down on his punches.
Show no respect for Canelo
“He [Canelo] has a crazy habit of jumping in with big shots. Canelo likes to jump into the body,” said Dirrell. “When he’s opening up, if you’ve got the courage, shoot that straight down the pipe.”
Canelo’s ability to dodge head shots while throwing punches makes him difficult to be hit cleanly. Even when he does get hit, he rolls with the shots to take the steam out of them.
If Jermell does choose to try and take advantage of Canelo’s aggressiveness, he’s going to need to be careful that he doesn’t get countered.
“Try to catch him on the chin, but if you miss and you exert yourself, you might catch one to the rib,” said Dirrell about Jermell. “You might go down, and he hits so hard, he might keep you there. So, he got to be careful.”
Missing a shot against Canelo can be bad for your health, and that’s why it’s a good idea not to load up unless you’ve got a good chin.
We don’t know how good Jermell’s punch resistance is because he’s not fought a lot of big punchers during his career.
“He [Charlo] can’t be too aggressive. He has to show that he’s not scared. He’s got to show no respect for Canelo and box, use his legs.,” said Dirrell. “He’s going to need his legs. I promise you, he’s going to need his legs. If he doesn’t use his legs, he’s getting knocked out.
“Is he going to use his legs? You better believe it. This ain’t no Spence situation where you just walk forward. This ain’t a guy where you take shots and walk forward,” said Dirrell.
