By Brian Webber: Jermell Charlo says he hasn’t purposefully changed his demeanor to be ultra-nice to be a fake for his fight with Canelo Alvarez on Saturday night in Las Vegas.
At the same time, Jermell (35-1-1, 19 KOs) states that he’s not going to kiss Canelo’sbackside just because he’s a great fighter. The non-snarling side of Charlo’s personality is his natural self, although boxing fans believe that he’s showing his gratitude to the Mexican warrior for giving him the opportunity to get his biggest payday.
We’ve seen fighters treat their fights with Canelo like glorified sparring sessions after they were blessed with the chance to fight him to pick up retirement money, never to be seen again inside the ring.
Jermell will get millions from the fight, and he’ll be able to live comfortably for the rest of his life without needing to work. Charlo isn’t the type to sit inside the mansion, eating or hanging out by the pool sipping pina coladas.
Hopefully, the money doesn’t destroy his career, as it has done with many well-known fighters like Tyson Fury & Andy Ruiz Jr, being two notable examples who lost their ambition and stopped competing against the best.
“I don’t know what they are talking about. My demeanor, this is really me,” said Jermell Charlo to the media when asked if he’s changed misdemeanor for this fight, being less aggressive with his personality.
It sure seems like Jermell has been overly friendly with Canelo, not showing his snarling side that we’d seen in the build-up to some of his other fights.
With the possibility of a rematch with Canelo if the fight is a draw or if he wins, it makes sense for Jermell to grovel the way he’s been doing because we saw what happened with Gennadiy Golovkin when & his trainer wasn’t smothering Canelo with compliments during the build up for the second fight.
Canelo froze Golovkin out for five years, and didn’t fight him again until he was old & shot last year at 41.
“For him to say I don’t believe in his skills, well, I don’t. It’s not about hurting him. It’s about beating him for 12 rounds. I’m going to do everything that me and my team have been working on. Be that guy. Make it rough for him in there,” Jermell continued about Canelo.
It’s hard to imagine Jermell roughing up Canelo because he doesn’t go to those lengths to win fights, but maybe he feels he’s got to throw out the rule book to increase his chances of getting a win to get that second payday.
“There’s a lot of things that want to tell you, but I’m not going to tell you. There’s a lot of things that I see,” said Jermell.
“I’m more than ready for a fight. I’ll turn it up and turn it off when I need to. When I get in the ring, it’s about protecting yourself and being vicious at every moment, every step of the twelve rounds for 36 minutes.
“No, I don’t think that. I just think that maybe somebody is in his ear or telling him about this and that,” said Charlo when asked if he thinks Canelo is intentionally trying to get him riled up.
“When you’re the top fighter in the world, you’re going to have a lot of haters and a lot of people that just don’t believe in your skills and that don’t believe in you. I’m not going to be over there kissing your a** cause you’re great. I want to fight. So I think that’s what that’s what that stems from, but who cares?” said Jermell about Canelo.
