Jermell Charlo likely to face Austin Trout on June 9

Jermell Charlo is set to return to action on June 9 on Showtime, defending his WBC junior middleweight title, and it looks like he’ll probably be facing former titleholder Austin Trouton the Santa Cruz-Mares II undercard.

Charlo (30-0, 15 KO) is ranked No. 2 in my latest 154-pound rankings update, and I’ve got the veteran Trout (31-4, 17 KO) at No. 5, so I do see this as a good matchup, despite the fact that Trout has lost his last two notable fights, one to Jermell’s brother Jermall, and the other to Jarrett Hurd, the newly-minted unified titleholder and top dog in the division. Trout was competitive in both fights.

That said, Charlo has been on a bit of a tear since gaining the belt, smashing through Charles Hatley and Erickson Lubin with ease in his first two title defenses.

If Charlo does win on June 9, against Trout or anyone else, there’s been plenty of talk of him facing former welterweight titleholder Kell Brook, or perhaps facing Hurd by the end of 2018.