Former undisputed junior middleweight champion Jermell Charlo has lost his final title, being stripped of his WBA 154-lb belt and given the ‘Champion in Recess’ designation. The sad part is that Jermell never defended his undisputed championship after capturing it in 2022.
Dan Rafael reports on his site that the WBA has stripped the 33-year-old Jermell after putting it to vote and reclassified him ‘Champion in recess.’
The good news is, Charlo can fight the winner of the Israil Madrimov vs. Magomed Kurbanov fight for his old WBA title after those two tangle on March 8th for the vacant belt on the undercard of Anthony Joshua vs. Francis Ngannou in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
No Return to 154 in Sight
It’s unlikely that Jermell will bother trying to win back that belt, as the payday wouldn’t be significant like the $10 million purse he received for his last fight against Canelo Alvarez last September.
Jermell was whitewashed by Canelo, losing every round in a 12-round unanimous decision defeat, and he hasn’t been seen since in the ring. Some believe the money that Charlo made in that fight has taken away his drive to continue with the sport.
Charlo had said that he would only return to the ring for big fights from this point on, but it’s unclear who that would be for him other than Terence Crawford. However, Terence is focused on trying to get a fight against Canelo Alvarez, and he probably wouldn’t be interested in fighting Jermell after his non-effort against Canelo.
A fight between Crawford and Jermell wouldn’t sell on PPV because boxing fans would view it as a mismatch and would be concerned that they wouldn’t get their money’s worth. It would be a cash grab.
A Tarnished Legacy
Charlo’s legacy is tarnished by how he handled his reign as an undisputed 154-lb champion. After capturing all four titles, instead of Jermall taking advantage of it by defending the belts, he never did.
Jermell sat out of the ring for 16 months after becoming undisputed until facing Canelo Alvarez at 168 for a giant payday and lost the first of his four titles by being stripped of his WBO 154-lb belt the moment he stepped foot inside the ring.
He was supposed to have defended against his WBO mandatory Tim Tszyu, but instead went up to super middleweight to fight Canelo.