Jose Benavidez Jr. is treating Jermall Charlo’s missing weight as some kind of a substitute victory in place of what’s likely to happen tonight when he goes up against the unbeaten middleweight champion in a non-title fight at the Michelob Arena in Las Vegas.
Benavidez Jr’s pseudo victory over Charlo at the weigh-in won’t help him in the ring tonight if he can’t perform better than he’s shown in the past during his long thirteen-year professional career.
It would mean a lot more if Benavidez Jr. actually wins the fight tonight rather than celebrating his missing weight as some kind of shallow, fake triumph in his mind.
You have to do more than celebrate your opponent’s missing weight unless you have no confidence in your ability, which you can argue is where Benavidez Jr. is at in his career.
Jermall had tried to get the weight moved up many weeks ago to 166, but that attempt was rejected by Jose Benavidez Sr., who wasn’t willing to budge from the agreed-upon 163-lb catchweight limit.
In an example of biting the hand that feeds, Jose Sr. chose not to move the weight to 166 so that Jermall could make it. Jermall allowed Benavidez Jr. to share the spotlight with him, and this is the thanks he gets.
After tonight’s expected massacre, it’s very unlikely any of the other top fighters will ever want to use Jose Sr. as an opponent for a showcase fight.
The talented Charlo hadn’t fought in 2.5 years, so it’s understandable why he would have problems getting down to 163. It’s Charlo’s fault for choosing to fight a smaller guy like Benavidez Jr. rather than racing a super middleweight, preferably one with actual talent.
It was interesting listening to Benavidez Jr, who recently lost to Danny Garcia, lecturing Charlo (32-0, 22 KOs) about his lack of discipline for coming in 3.4 lbs over the 163-lb catchweight limit last Friday at the weigh-in.
“When you make weight, you don’t have to run around like a dumb a**,” said Jose Benavidez Jr. on social media, lecturing Jermall Charlo about missing weight last Friday ahead of their fight tonight.
“You got to be dedicated to the sport; you got to be disciplined,” Benavidez Jr. continued about Jermall.
You can kind of predict what Benavidez Jr. and his dad, Jose Sr, are going to be saying if things to badly for them tonight with Jermall wiping the deck with him. They’ll blame it on Charlo being bigger, and then angle for a rematch or to be used by another top-tier fighter as an opponent. It’ll be a pure hustle.
