Jermell: GGG should fight Jermall Charlo next, not Canelo

By Jeff Aranow: Jermell Charlo isn’t happy seeing his brother former IBF junior middleweight champion Jermall Charlo (26-0, 20 KOs) being skipped over by IBF/IBO/WBA/WBC middleweight champion Gennady “GGG” Golovkin for his next fight.

Golovkin wants to fight a rematch with Saul “Canelo” Alvarez (49-1-2, 34 Kos) next rather than face his #1 WBC mandatory challenger Jermall.

Jermell says the Charlos are not being given respect by being talked about for the big fights. The big fights that Jermell wants for him and his brother are ones against guys like Triple G and Saul “Canelo” Alvarez. Jermell says that Golovkin thinks that Jermall hasn’t fought enough for him to face him. Jermell points out that his brother Jermall previously held the IBF 154 lb. title, and he moved up in weight recently after he could no longer make the weight for the junior middleweight division.

“I never lost my hunger,” said Charlo to Fighthub. “The way I keep my hunger is they not representing the Charlo brothers, and they not giving the Charlo brothers the respect. They not throwing out our names against the big fighters and the big names,” said Jermell in talking about the top fighters, promoters and boxing media not mentioning the Charlo brothers in the same breath as the top fighters in the sport.

As far as Jermall goes, he’s going to need to wait a bit until Golovkin fights Canelo in a rematch next year for him to find out if he’s going to get a fight with him. Canelo has made it abundantly clear that he wants no part of fighting for the WBC middleweight title, which means he’s not a possibility for Jermall to fight.

The only way Jermall gets a big fight is if Golovkin beats Canelo, and he decides to stay in the 160-lb. division to continue to defend his belts. There’s talk that Golovkin could abandon the division and move up to 168. Considering the problems Golovkin had against Danny Jacobs, it’s possible that he could stay at 160. Jacobs is a fighter that is for all intents and purposes a super middleweight, who drains down to fight at middleweight. Jacobs is huge after he rehydrates for his fights in the 160-lb. division.

”Triple G said my brother hadn’t fought enough,” said Jermell about his brother Jermall. ”I’m like, ‘Wow! He [Jermall Charlo] won a world title. He moved up because he couldn’t make the weight no more, and he left that category to me. I haven’t heard anything [about a Golovkin vs. Jermall fight]. They’re talking about a rematch [between Canelo and Golovkin]. Forget a rematch. He’s number 1,” said Charlo about his brother Jermall being Golovkin’s #1 mandatory challenger with the World Boxing Council.

Golovkin’s trainer Abel Sanchez says they won’t think about a fight against Jermall Charlo until the World Boxing Council orders the fight. Sanchez figures that it could be over 1 year before the Golovkin vs. Charlo fight is ordered. So, we might be talking about 2019 at least before Charlo has a shot at fighting Golovkin. That’s if Golovkin doesn’t leave the 160-lb. division or retire from boxing. Anything is possible. Golovkin might even continue to fight Canelo beyond their rematch next year.

If Canelo and Golovkin end up facing each other 4 times, it could be a long wait for Jermall to get a fight against Golovkin. The worst thing that could happen to Jermall is for Canelo to beat Golovkin. That would mean the WBC 160 lb. title would fall vacant rather than into the hands of Canelo, who wants no part of fighting for that belt. Golovkin would try and fight Canelo to avenge the loss. He won’t worry about the WBC belt he lost. The belt would be of less importance to Golovkin. He would want to avenge his defeat to Canelo.

There’s too much money for Golovkin to forget about the rematch with Canelo. That’s the whole problem. Boxing is a business, and there’s a lot more money for GGG to fight Canelo a second and even a third time than there is for him to take a risky fight against a young lion like the 27-year-old Jermall.

Jermall Charlo recently beat #1 WBC Jorge Sebastian Heiland by a 4th round knockout in their WBC middleweight title eliminator last summer on July 29 at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. Heiland came into the fight with what appeared to be a leg injury. It was clear from the opening round that Heiland was not going to be able to fight at a high enough level to stay in the fight for any length of time against Jermall. Heiland was knocked down in round 2 and in round 4. The fight was finally stopped in the 4th, making Jermall the mandatory challenger to Golovkin.

Canelo showed no interest in fighting Jermall when the two of them were fighting in the junior middleweight division. Whether Canelo was intentionally avoiding Jermall or not is unclear. We’ll never know for sure. It was peculiar though that Canelo would choose not to fight someone who was respected by the hardcore boxing fans as Charlo was.

Instead of Canelo fighting Charlo, he spent the last 3 years fighting the likes of Alfredo Angulo, James Kirkland, Amir Khan, Erislandy Lara, Miguel Cotto and Liam Smith. Those are guys that Jermall Charlo would have likely destroyed. Cotto would have been a good test for Charlo, but I think ultimately, he would be too small for him.

Jermall needs to fight the best available opponent he can for his next fight. It’s been 3 months since he last fought, and he still doesn’t have an opponent scheduled for his next fight. Jermall’s management should target someone like Tureano Johnson, Curtis Stevens or Sergiy Derevyanchenko and see if they can get one of those guys into the ring. Charlo would pick up a lot of boxing fans if he can beat any of those guys. Those are talented fighters in the division. Hassan N’Dam and Ryota Murata would be good options as well for Jermall.

Charlo has only 1 fight under his belt at middleweight. He needs to fight often, even if it’s against guys that aren’t well respected. Charlo needs to let the boxing public see him fight so they can create buzz for him to fight guys like Canelo and Golovkin.