By Dan Ambrose: Trainer Ronnie Shields says it’s important that Jermell Charlo find a way to get Canelo Alvarez’s body to try and weaken him because he has a good chin.
Charlo (35-1-1, 19 KOs) is going to need to take risks for him to defeat undisputed super middleweight champion Canelo on September 30th on Showtime PPV at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
Canelo is the A-side and means a lot to the state of Nevada & specifically Las Vegas, with the crowds he brings to the city whenever he fights. Jermell is from Texas, so he’s definitely coming in as the visiting fighter trying to defeat the moneyman Canelo.
As Shields points out, most guys that face Canelo (59-2-2, 39 KOs) don’t throw to the body because getting in position is difficult. Canelo’s counter-punching ability makes it risky to try and attack his body.
Austin Trout hurt Canelo in the body in the seventh round of their fight in 2013, and Alvarez retreated to the ropes and spent the second half of the contest shelled up like a turtle. Canelo didn’t want to get hurt again.
Gennadiy Golovkin was occasionally throwing to Canelo’s body in their first two fights, but the Mexican star would turn his back forward and then look to the referee to step in and warn GGG, which they would do.
You have to expect Canelo to try the same tactic if Jermell attacks him to the body because he won’t allow him to take advantage of his Achilles heel.
“Canelo has a good chin. He has that. There’s an old saying, ‘Kill the body, and the head will go.’ You don’t see many fighters go to Canelo’s body because it’s hard to get close enough to do it. He’ll have to come up with a scheme to get into that position,” said Ronnie Shields
What Shields doesn’t say is that Jermell may need to inflict a serious beat down on Canelo or knock him out for him to win the fight. If you’re Jermell, you need to attack him like a lion and try and try to get to his body to weaken him.
Canelo picked a good time to face Jermell, with him being out of action since May 2022 due to a hand injury. Jermell hasn’t fought in 16 months, which is the amount of time that Errol Spence Jr. had been out of the ring when he fought Terence Crawford.
Being out of action for that long isn’t a good thing when you’re fighting someone as talented as Canelo.