By Allan Fox: Trainer Derrick James says Jermell Charlo’s lack of size won’t disadvantage him against the heavier undisputed super middleweight champion Canelo Alvarez this month, and he doesn’t need to bulk up.
Derrick could be in denial about what Jermell (35-1-1, 19 KOs) is up against because if he can’t see the seriousness of his fighter’s situation against Canelo (59-2-2, 39 KOs), that is worrisome.
James’ fighter Errol Spence lost last July to Terence Crawford, and as the trainer, he was the ship’s captain. Spence shouldn’t been so big when started camp, and Derrick was at the helm.
If Jermell loses this fight, would be a good idea to throw Derrick James overboard for the fish and find a new captain of the ship. There are a lot of quality trainers out there who could help Jermell before it’s too late.
Now, he’s steering the Jermell Charlo ship, putting on a brave face as he steers him into the rocky shoreline. You have to wonder if Derrick has his eyes open because it doesn’t look good right now, with Jermell not having the size that he needs to make it a competitive fight on September 30th.
It would be a mistake if Jermell doesn’t put on 15-20 lbs of size to help even things out against the sparkplug Canelo, who is built like a fire hydrant and has dynamite in both hands.
If Jermell lacks the size, Canelo will break him in two by targeting his body and then putting him away with one of his uppercuts.
Should Jermell be putting on weight?
“Just because you’re moving up two weight divisions, it doesn’t mean you have to gain all that weight. I think that his advantages is his size, and I think you have to maximize what you have,” said Derrick James during today’s Houston media workout, talking about Jermell Charlo.
“We see smaller guys sparring bigger guys every day of the week. I have something that you don’t have. So he doesn’t have to become that guy beat that guy,” said James about Jermell not needing to put on a lot of size for him to beat Canelo.
Just because Derrick is having smaller guys spar with bigger fighters, it doesn’t mean that it’s okay for Jermell to be smaller than Canelo.
“I see Jermell going in there. I think it’s going to be back & forth,” said Derrick. “I think Canelo has to impose his will. At the same time, Jermell has to show, ‘I’m here also, and I’m not going to let you be who you are because if you let a fighter be who they are, they’ll walk over you every day of the week.
“You got to stop him from being his greatest self, and Jermell has to be able to do that. I didn’t say what he’s going to do. It’s reality. It’s in the past now,” said Derrick, talking about Errol Spence Jr. losing to Terence Crawford.
Tough task for Charlo
“I think it would be great, and at the same time, I see Jermell making history, and he would have to be considered one of the greatest pound-for-pound fighters of all time because most of the people don’t even have him rated in their pound-for-pound ratings,” said Derrick.
Derrick is too focused on the glory that Jermell will achieve and not enough on the hard part of how to go about beating the Face of Boxing, Canelo.
Yeah, a win for Jermell would make Derrick look like a genius, but it doesn’t look like that will happen. One gets the sense that Derrick is already visualizing all the praise he’ll receive if Jermell pulls off the upset against Canelo, and he can’t snap to back reality to understand how bleak things are for Jermell.
“So to be a super middleweight undisputed champ and a light middleweight undisputed champ at the same time, two amazing feats at the same time,” said James. “I’m just talking about history in itself because there’s not another fighter to do it.
“Ray Robinson was the only other guy that tried it and failed, and not many people have been able to try it and be successful or to try and become undisputed champ, period.
“So to be able to do it in two divisions, it’s a big deal,” said James about Charlo trying to become a two-division undisputed champion against Canelo.
