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Jermell Charlo is emerging from his 15-month hibernation phase. He is asking the PBC to arrange a fight for him against the “best” they have at 154.
“Make sense”
They don’t have anyone at that weight to watch against former undisputed junior middleweight champion Charles (35-2-1, 19 KOs). He says, “Make it meaningful,” which is code for Jermell’s desire for a big payoff for his return. That ship sailed a long time ago.
That doesn’t seem likely unless Turki Alashik wants to use it for one of his cards to feed him Serhii Bohachuk. That would be fun to watch.
It’s too late for Jermell to fight Terence Crawford. He’s hunting big game and trying to get a golden parachute retirement payout against Canelo Alvarez. He will not waste time on a fighter who lacks ambition and has been sitting on his sofa for 15 months.
Charlo may have burned his bridges with the lack of effort he put forth against Canelo Alvarez last time, and destroyed what little popularity he still had after sitting on the shelf for over a year.
It’s estimated that Jermell was paid $20 million for that fight, which may explain why fans haven’t seen his skin or hair since.
It’s possible the PBC could negotiate a fight for Jermell against the newly crowned IBF 154lb champion Bakram Murtazaliev. However, Charlo, 34, never showed any interest in fighting Murtazali when his IBF was mandatory, so it’s hard to see him agreeing to fight him now. If Charlo wants the fastest way to the world title. Murtazaliev (23-0, 17 KOs) would be the guy.
Charlo’s Demands
“Prime Boxing, give me the best you’ve got, or whoever you think can handle me at 154. Let the fans choose.” Only lions. Make sense,” Jermell Charlo said on social media.
It would be brave of Charles to challenge the undefeated Murtazaliev for his IBF belt, but it probably won’t happen. That guy is too good.
On October 19, Murtazaliev destroyed former WBO junior middleweight champion Tim Tsziu with a third-round knockout, losing him four times in the fight. If he could do that against the active and still young Tsziu, you can only imagine what Murtazaliev would do to a rusty old Yermel.
Jermell looked awful in his one-sided 12-round unanimous decision loss to Canelo Alvarez 15 months ago on September 30, 2023. Charlo didn’t even seem to try to win the fight as he moved around the ring, playing it safe for 12 rounds. Many boxing fans believe that Jermell came in for a payday and never intended to try to win.
The fact that Jermell hasn’t wrestled since that loss adds to the belief that it was always about the money for him.
