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Jermell Charlo flew into a rage while warning the WBO that it would strip him of his belt ahead of his fight against Saul Canelo Alvarez at super middleweight. Jermell Charlo took offense at the WBO’s plan to strip him of his belt if he fought Saul Canelo Alvarez.
Jermell Charlo deserves to be angry because he feels he has worked hard to become the undisputed super welterweight champion. Charlo stopped Tony Harrison hard in their rematch, used a body strike to eliminate Jeison Rosario, and knocked out Brian Castano after being forced to accept a majority decision draw in the first meeting.
The 69.8 kg class has actually been swept clean by Jermell Charlo. Except, of course, for Team Tszyu. The Australian star has been Jermell Charlo’s mandatory opponent in the WBO for some time. The 28-year-old boxer has been screaming and complaining for a chance to fight Charlo, but his constant shouting hasn’t had the result he was hoping for.
In an attempt to appease Tszyu, the governing body awarded him an interim ban in his match against Tony Harrison. After keeping the 32-year-old out of action in the ninth round, Tszyu defended his secondary title against Carlos Ocampo, and scored the knockout victory in less than a minute. Still, even after the Aussie has proven himself, he wants what he believes he deserves… a fight against Charlo.
In the end, Tszyu’s shouts and cheers did nothing to faze the undisputed champion. In fact, when he originally planned to deal with her, Charlo chose another direction instead. With Canelo Alvarez pouring big bucks his way, the 33-year-old boxer has officially decided to move up two weight classes to face him for the world super middleweight title.
This is an opportunity to make history as well as an opportunity to add to the coffers of his money. However, while he was busy in the weight room, the WBO would not let Tszyu out of the fight. For now, boxing’s world governing body will allow Charlo to defend his title until fight night. However, as soon as the match bell rang, he would be disarmed and Tszyu would be stepped up.
Of course, Jermell Charlo wasn’t too pleased with their decision. While talking to a group of reporters recently, the man from Houston asked them to use whatever power they had to reach out to the WBO to reconsider their options. “You should write to the WBO and tell them to give me back my belt and don’t touch it. Tell them not to touch my belt,” Charlo said.
Charlo can rage all he likes, but the sanctioning body seems ready to move forward with their decision. To some extent, Charlo (35-1-1, 19 KOs) has decided to look on the bright side. Just because he plans to gain weight doesn’t mean he intends to stay at super middleweight.
The sweat that the world champion has shed has annoyed him with this situation. Although victory over Canelo Alvarez would have made him only the third fighter in history to become undisputed champion in two different divisions, neither Claressa Shields nor Terence Crawford had won in their division at the time. Yet Charlo, were it not for the WBO, was hoping to be first. “It makes sense for me to fight and win and have eight gold belts,” he joked.
(aww)