By Sean Jones: Canelo Alvarez & Jermell Charlo both weighed in at 167.4 lbs at the ceremonial weigh-in today before the official weigh-in today for Saturday night’s contest on September 30th on Showtime PPV at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
It could be a big mistake for Jermell (35-1-1, 19 KOs) to come in so heavy, as he fights at 154, and for him to come in 13.4 lbs heavier than normal, he could be slowed down on Saturday night.
It’s going to be tough enough as it is for Charlo to stay on the move to keep out of range of Canelo’s powerful head & body shots that he’s going to be looking to land.
In Jermell’s last fight against Brian Castano, he utilized excellent side-to-side movement to neutralize the offensive of the powerful Argenitnian fighter to defeat him by a tenth round knockout.
How Jermell beats Canelo:
- Focusing on power early on: Jermell must use his power right away to make Canelo respect him and be wary of charging straight in like he normally does.
- Jabbing to keep Canelo off: Jermell has got to use his jab and not let Canelo get near without getting hit repeatedly. When Jermell backs away after throwing shots, he should hold his left arm far out in front of him the way Dmitry Bivol did to keep Canelo from closing the distance to land.
- Utilize speed advantage. The speed that Charlo has will be a key asset for him in this fight because Canelo is considerably slower, and he won’t be able to compete when the two are exchanging at the same time.
- Stay at range: More than anything, Charlo must maintain a safe distance away from Canelo to keep from getting chopped down by his heavy body and headshots.
Jermell Charlo must box
“I think that he is the smaller fighter, no matter how much taller, how much bigger he looks, and they talk about how you walk around. Everything’s about that weigh-in and what you have to weigh when the weigh-in arrives,” said Stephen A. Smith to the ESPN YouTube channel.
It’s not much the lack of size that could give the 33-year-old Jermell problems on Saturday night. His low punch output, the extra weight, and the fact that he’s never fought anyone with the kind of power that Canelo has.
If Jermell’s power doesn’t carry to 168, he’s not going to be able to keep Canelo off him, and he’ll be forced to brawl if he gets tired of running. That won’t be good for him because the Mexican star is a murderous puncher, particularly on the inside.
We saw what he did to Gennadiy Golovkin in their three fights, and that guy is a bigger puncher & more rugged than Jermell.
“He’s [Jermell] moving up two weight classes. A guy like Canelo Alvarez has won the championship in the welterweight division, junior middleweight, middleweight division, super middleweight division, and light heavyweight division,” said Stephen A.
“He’s knocked out Sergey Kovalev at 175 pounds; he’s put people down in in in the middleweight division; he’s a powerful dude, every shot practically that he throws is a power shot, he’s got this really thick neck where it enables him to take punches that most people can’t take.
“He can not only give it; he can take it. So for me, when I think about Charlo, he’s got to be very, very active, but he has to use that boxing IQ, and he has to do everything that he can to stay away from Canelo.
“Caleb Plant is a very skilled and gifted boxer. People underestimate him, but he can really box. He doesn’t have a lot of power, even though he’s had some knockouts, some spectacular knockouts. He doesn’t have big-time power, but he’s a skilled boxer, and what did Canelo do?
“He just stalked him and stalked them and stalked him until he finally caught him because he’s going to chop you down with those body shots, those hooks to the liver. This guy does to the kidneys as well,” Smith said.
What Canelo did against Caleb Plant could be similar to what he’ll do against Charlo on Saturday night if he’s able to tire out with his pressure.
Jermell’s trainer, Derrick James, will need a good game plan on Saturday night for him not to go 0-2 in huge fights. Derrick’s fighter, Errol Spence Jr., looked lost in his recent undisputed welterweight championship fight against Terence Crawford last July, and he looked like a guy who hadn’t been prepared properly.
If Jermell has no plan B, Derrick is going to be the one boxing fans will blame, and we could see his top fighters fleeing his gym like rats jumping overboard from a sinking ship.
Will Jermell be the same after?
“This is what Canelo does, and so for me, Charlo being a guy, it would be one thing if I saw him display the ability of a Floyd ‘Money’ Mayweather, who could fight you moving backward,” said Stephen A.
Well, Smith can forget about Jermell displaying Mayweather-esque defensive skills on Saturday night against Canelo because he’s not that type of talent, and he’s not going to suddenly metamorphose into the second coming of Floyd.
“I have seen very rare fighters with that level of skill. Charlo usually fights standing in front of you or usually fights moving side to side with lateral movement or coming at you,” said Smith. “Rarely is it backing up, and I think to beat Canelo, he needs to be able to back up.
“I don’t know if he could do that, which is why Canelo should be the favorite. I’m praying he doesn’t knock Charlo out because I think that Charlo is so gifted. I don’t want something that devastating to happen to him, but nevertheless, Canelo should be the favorite.
“A lot of people are assuming it could be a knockout. I think it would be a decision because I think Charlo is smart enough to avoid some of those devastating punches, but he’s got to keep his distance. He cannot stand in front of Canelo Alvarez and win this fight.
“That would be a mistake. If he catches him, who knows what could happen because Charlo is that skilled, but he’s the smaller fighter, no matter how much bigger he looks. He’s the smaller fighter, and he’s got to stay away, keep his distance from Canelo,” said Stephen A.