Jermall Charlo says it won’t end well for Jose Benavidez Jr. this Saturday, November 25th, in their co-feature bout at the Michelob Ultra Arena in Las Vegas.
(Photo credit: Andrew Hemingway/SHOWTIME®)
Benavidez Jr. looks doomed in this fight unless Jermall’s ring rust has eroded his skills and punching power to the extent when he’s vulnerable.
If Jermall knocks out Benavidez Jr., it’ll be interesting to see if his brother David Benavidez wants to avenge his loss by facing Charlo next. It would be the perfect setup for a big fight that would attract a lot of attention from fans.
For many fans, this fight is the most interesting one on the card because they want to see if Jermall is his old self. Benavidez Jr.’s dependency in a pitched battle with Jermall could last five to seven minutes before he’s destroyed.
Charlo (32-0, 22 KOs) returns from a two-a-half-year absence of the ring in a ten round non-title fight against Benavidez Jr. (28-2-1, 19 KOs) on Showtime pay-per-view.
Jermall says he will treat the former light welterweight contender Benavidez Jr. like a little “bull” and walk him into shots to get him out of there.
The 31-year-old Jose Jr. has talked a lot of trash in the build-up to this fight, and Jermall wants to pay him back when they meet in their chief support bout on the David Benavidez vs. Demetrius Andrade card.
Jermall predicting domination
“I’m going to go in there and dictate, dominate, and run him into some traps. I know he gets wild at a point, so treat him like a bull,” said Jermall Charlo to YSM Sports Media about his thoughts on his fight this Saturday night against Jose Benavidez Jr. on November 25th on Showtime pay-per-view.
“I’m going to do that regardless,” said Jermall when asked if the trash-talking that Benavidez Jr. did during their virtual press conference motivated him to put on a spectacular performance.
Since Benavidez Jr’s chances are so slim, he needs to go all out from the opening bell, throwing leather with reckless abandon he’s going to be reduced to rubble by Jermall if he starts slowly.
Jose Jr. hasn’t fought a good opponent since his fight with Terence Crawford in 2018, and that was too long ago for the experience to be useful to him for Saturday’s fight with Jermall.
Benavidez Jr’s recent opponents:
- Sladan Janjanin – TKO 5
- Danny Garcia – MD 12 loss
- Francisco Emanuel Torres – MD draw 10
- Terence Crawford – 12th round TKO loss
- Frank Rojas – KO 1
Charlo ready to crush Benavidez Jr
“I’m not necessarily worried about what he’s talking about,” said Charlo. “He’s got to show me. I don’t think he’s ever shown nothing spectacular. He reminds me of a baby [Ricardo] Mayorga. Just talk s** and go in and swing wild until he gets crushed.”
Benavidez Jr. talks trash like Mayorga, but he lacks his talent. The former two-division world champion Mayorga had a lot more ability than Benavidez Jr. and beat a lot of quality fighters during his successful career.
In contrast, Benavidez Jr’s best win is a questionable twelve round unanimous decision over former fringe contender Mauricio Herrera in 2014.
“Nah, he was good at 140, 135,” said Jermall on whether there’s anything that worries him about Benavidez Jr. “Before his injuries, he was pretty good. He was one of the top fighters in the world at a point.”
The injury that Jermall is talking about is Benavidez Jr. being shot in the leg in August 2016 in Phoenix, Arizona. His career hasn’t been the same since being shot.
“If you go back and look at that, that was before [Terence] Crawford, Danny Garcia, and before any of his little fights or whatever,” said Jermall. “But I don’t see him being nothing where it’s like I got to watch out for nothing. He’s no Tito Trinidad. He’s not one of those Hector Camacho, Chavez Sr.
“He’s nothing like that. He can talk all he wants, but when he gets in the ring, he’s going to have to figure out things. I can fight on the inside real well. That’s something I picked up in the last two years that I’ve been off. I’ve been going to the body a lot more.
“Of course, I place uppercut shots at the right time that I need them, but I’ve been adding a lot more of that to my game plan. So we’ll see,” said Jermall.
