By Craig Daly: Jermell Charlo says he’s not sure if his twin brother Jermall Charlo will be able to bounce back to return to the ring and resume his successful career.
Jermell says his brother has surrounded himself with the wrong people, and he doesn’t know if he’s going to be able to come back.
The WBC middleweight champion Jermall (32-0, 22 KOs) hasn’t fought in over two years since his successful defense against Juan Macias Montiel in June 2021.
Surprisingly, the World Boxing Council has been patient with Jermall, choosing not to strip him of his WBC 160-lb title, despite 27 months of inactivity.
This hasn’t been fair to the contenders waiting for their title shot in the WBC’s 15 ranking, as they’ve seen two years of their careers gone to waste.
Jermall had been under consideration for undisputed super middleweight champion Canelo Alvarez’s next fight on September 30th, but it didn’t happen.
Some believe that Jermall is in the running for Canelo’s second fight of his three-fight contract with PBC next May.
Still, the way he’s looked in recent live Instagram clips, slurring his words and appearing close to nodding off, it’s highly unlikely the Mexican star will chance-it by using him as his opponent for early next year.
Will Jermall Charlo bounce back?
Brian Custer: “I think one of the interesting things that Canelo said. He said, ‘Listen, I think Jermell is a better fight [than Jermall Charlo]. I think he’s a better fighter, and I think his resume is a lot better than his brother’s.’ What do you think when you heard him say that?” said Brian on his YouTube channel.
Jermell Charlo: “Me and my brother used to argue about that back in the day about that. ‘Ah, man, you ain’t fight nobody today.’ We used to literally argue about that. ‘You fighting a bum.’ ‘My opponent ain’t no bum. I got to get in there and put my life on the line.’
“So, I kind of started to understand that a bit, but I did have a sharper resume. I was pushed pretty tough. I was pushed to a point where if you lose a fight, you lose your contract, and I kind of lived in that mentality.
“That’s the kind of mentality where all young boxers and people coming up that are listening to this should take every fight seriously. Don’t always try to protect the O, but give the best that you can. I think that’s what I did, and I made it to that point.”
Brian: “Let me ask you real quick about your brother [Jermall]. What’s happened to your brother? How can you describe it? You keep hearing a lot of noise from people saying, ‘Strip him [of his WBC middleweight title]. He hasn’t fought in over two years. What’s happened to Jermall Charlo?”
Jermell: “Like they’re trying to strip me. I think that he surrounded himself with the wrong people. I think also when you live off of something that’s like that makes you have to bounce back; if you’re going to bounce back, go ahead and bounce back and fight for that every day.
“Let that be your fight. So if there’s anything wrong with him, it’s the fact that you can’t be content with having the issue other than fixing the issue. So, I think my brother is around who you surround yourself with, who’s there in your ear trying to push you to get better or get off of that level that you at and push you back where you need to be.”
Without help, it’s likely that Jermall will be able to return to the ring to regain the form that he had before he stopped fighting. He’s been out of the ring for too long, and it’s questionable whether he’s been taking care of himself physically.
Some fighters can return to action after two years of inactivity, with a lot of them, they’re not as good as they were previously. For example, Muhammad Ali was out of action for two years during his famous career, and he wasn’t nearly as good when he returned to action.
Although Ali still found success, winning world titles, and beating Joe Frazier, George Foreman, and Ken Norton, he didn’t resemble the fighter he’d been.
Jermall isn’t an Ali-like fighter, so it’s less likely he’ll have kind of real success. His management at PBC can cherry-pick opponents, but if they throw him in with someone good, he’s likely to fall apart.
Is it too late for Jermall?
Brian: “You think he’ll come back?”
Jermell: “Truthfully, I really don’t know because I’m not in his household; I don’t talk to him every day. We kind of get into it. Every other year, we don’t ever seem to see eye to eye on certain things, but I wish my brother the best. I hope he bounces back.
“He’s got a family to feed, a lot of children to take care of, bills to pay, and a life to live. So, I don’t want it to be when it’s all said and done, everyone in the family coming to me to ask for some bread.
“They need to be going to ask Jermall, but I’m going to be doing everything that I can. In my moment, I got to assist that, and this is it. So if this is what I got to go through, I got to go through it.
“I do wish him the best. I do hope he bounces back, but to answer that question, it’s going to be really tough for me to answer.”
Brian: “What did you think when Caleb Plant smacked him?”
Jermell: “I thought it was BS. I didn’t appreciate it because it makes me look bad, and I hate that fact. It makes me look bad, and it sucks for me. It sucks for my brother as well. They might got to fight. If they got to fight, they got to fight.”
It’s impossible to know if Jermall will come back from this, but it becomes less likely the longer he stays out of the ring. It would be sad if Jermall ends up broke one day and has nothing to show for his once-successful career.
