Jermall Charlo vs. Hugo Centeno Jr. postponed until April 21

Boxingnews24.com

By Dan Ambrose

Former IBF junior middleweight champion Jermall Charlo (26-0, 20 KOs) and Hugo Centeno Jr. (26-1, 14 KOs) won’t be fighting on March 3rd as originally scheduled. Centeno Jr. has suffered a rib injury and he’ll be unable to face Charlo on the 3rd of March. Instead, the Charlo vs. Centeno Jr. fight will take place on April 21. The injury gives Centeno Jr. a little more time to try and figure out how he’s going to beat Charlo, who is the favorite to win the fight.

Charlo and Centeno Jr. were scheduled as the co-feature bout on the Deontay Wilder vs. Luis Ortiz card on Showtime Championship Boxing at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.

Charlo was hoping to put himself in a better position to get a fight against WBC middleweight champion Gennady ‘GGG’ Golovkin. But with Centeno Jr.now being off the card due to an injury, it erases the chance for Charlo to pick up the interim WBC 160 lb. title for the time being. As long as Centeno Jr. is able to fight on April 21, Charlo can put himself in position to get a title shot against the Canelo-Golovkin 2 winner or have the WBC give him the title outside of the ring at some point.

Charlo is already ranked #1, and he doesn’t need the interim WBC middleweight title for him to get a crack at the belt. Charlo just needs the WBC to order the winner of the Golovkin vs. Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez fight to defend the belt against him. Canelo will probably vacate the WBC middleweight title if he beats Golovkin in their rematch on May 5th. Canelo isn’t going to be forced into facing anyone if he doesn’t want to.

Golden Boy Promotions said to be looking to line up Canelo’s next opponent after the Golovkin fight. Canelo could be facing Gary ‘Spike’ O’Sullivan or David Lemieux. Golovkin wants to fight WBO middleweight champion Billy Joe Saunders in his next fight after the Canelo rematch. Golovkin might end up taking the fight with Saunders whether he wins or loses the fight with Canelo.

Charlo will have to wait awhile to get a shot at Golovkin. That’s his best chance at fighting for the WBC belt. Charlo probably will never get a fight against Canelo, because he’s not interested in defending the WBC belt if he beats Golovkin.

With the 27-year-old Centeno Jr. being injured and unable to fight Charlo on March, it weakens the card considerably. Instead of the Charlo-Centeno Jr. fight being the co-feature bout, interim IBF World super middleweight champion Andre Dirrell 26-2, 16 KOs) and Jose Uzcategui (26-2, 22 KOs) would likely be moved up into the co-feature spot on the card. That fight could end up with a lot of drama if Dirrell is fouled by Uzcategui in getting hit after one of the rounds end. That’s what we saw from the previous Dirrell vs. Uzcategui match on May 20th. A frustrated looking Uzcategui, who had problems landing his punches all night due to Dirrell’s defensive skills, nailed him after the bell in the 8th. Dirrell was knocked out by the late punch, and Uzcategui was disqualified. Uzcategui had hit Dirrell after the bell earlier in the fight a well.

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