By Sean Jones: Trainer Derrick James says Jermell Charlo has become a knockout puncher in the 11 or 12 fights, making him a real threat to stopping undisputed super middleweight champion Canelo Alvarez on September 30th.
With the work that Derrick has done with Jermell (35-1-1, 19 KOs), he’s changed him from a pure boxer to a knockout artist. In Charlo’s last 11 fights, he’s knocked out 8 of his opponents, and he’s only getting better in that department.
Can Jermell Charlo knock out Canelo?
With Charlo’s 54.29% KO rate, some boxing fans would dismiss the possibility of Jermell stopping the Mexican warrior Canelo. Still, when you look at his knockouts of Brian Castano, Jeison Rosario, Tony Harrison, and Erickson Lubin, you have to believe he has an excellent chance of stopping Alvarez.
We saw Canelo staggered by Gennadiy Golovkin twice in their second fight in 2018, and he could have been knocked out if GGG had poured it on with a flurry rather than focusing on being so precise with his punches.
Dmitry Bivol had Canelo on the brink of a knockout last year when he unleashed a seven-punch flurry in the fifth round. The referee looked like he was on the verge of stepping in and stopping the fight because Canelo was getting lit by Bivol and not throwing anything back.
Bivol and Jose Miguel Cotto showed the key to knocking out Canelo by throwing a sustained flurry of punches.
Most fighters make the mistake of trying to KO Canelo by throwing single punches, which is the wrong way to hurt him because he’s good at avoiding shots when it’s only one.
What Canelo has problems with are fighters that throw flurries because they overwhelm his defense, causing him to go into his turtle shell?
Jermell Charlo: “Setting punches up, throwing the punches where they need to be placed, and that’s what Derrick does really well,” said Jermell to Showtime Sports.
“We all work as a team. I got legendary Joan Guzman. Guzman brings a whole different energy. I’ve been watching Juan since I was 14, and I was like, ‘Dang, he’s solid like a real lion.’
“I’m the fighter that needs that guy there. I’m going to learn from you. I’m going to learn from you the visual way.
Joan Guzman: “Having retired so recently, I try to imagine that it’s me in the ring. What would I do in that situation? So that in the corner, I can say, ‘Why don’t you do this?’ That’s why I say I’m the secret weapon.
Derrick James: “We’ve had 11 or 12 fights since we’ve been together. Everybody he’s fought, he’s dropped everybody. He was always told that he was never going to be a puncher. So was like, ‘Hey, he’s a knockout puncher.'”
