Jermall Charlo made a surprising statement regarding his WBC middleweight title when discussing his forthcoming comeback.
Charlo returns from two years and five months out of the ring. Throughout that period, questions were constantly thrown at WBC President Mauricio Sulaiman over why Charlo hadn’t been stripped of the belt.
It was then revealed that Charlo was suffering from mental health issues. This led to Sulaiman backing Charlo publicly.
“Basically, in 2021, Charlo was ready for a big fight with Jaime Munguia,” Sulaiman told Izquierdazo. “Then Munguia didn’t want to fight with [Carlos] Adames in a final elimination fight.
“Charlo then accepted a fight with [Maciej] Sulecki, and Adames was ordered to fight [for the interim title] so the title could have activity.
“Munguia left negotiations, and Charlo got injured. When Charlo was recovering from his injury, he suffered a mental health episode. It was a serious and important one,” added Sulaiman.
“If people want to be yelling and kicking because we didn’t strip him of his title for not fighting, that is why. We will be supporting him unconditionally.
“That is why there is an interim title, so there can be activity in the division. But we will always support our champion in the good times and even more in the bad ones.
WBC will support Jermall Charlo
“We want him to fight, to defend his title. But we want him to return or a ten-round fight. We will support him.”
That was all good until Charlo announced his return for November 25 in Las Vegas. His fight with Jose Benavidez Jr. on the undercard to David Benavidez vs Demetrius Andrade was set as a non-title fight at 163 pounds.
Therefore, the whole point of allowing Charlo the time to get mentally ready was made null and void as he would not defend his championship.
Charlo then threw that loyalty back at the World Boxing Council. He told Showtime’s Brian Custer that he had no intention of defending the belt again.
“You’re all talk. You ain’t nothing,” he said to Benavidez in the three-way conversation with Custer. “This is my first step toward fighting at 168 pounds and fighting his brother.
“This guy here has got little man syndrome. He will see when he starts eating right hands and jabs.”
Vacant middleweight title
In a nutshell, the WBC could have moved on from Charlo months ago and vacated the belt for somebody else to contest. Charlo could have indicated his intentions to the WBC long before his 2023 fight.
The belt will almost certainly become vacant after November 25, with the next two contenders to be chosen from the 160-pound ratings.
Currently, Gennadiy Golovkin is ranked number one. However, he has not indicated that he will stave off retirement. That could change if a WBC title shot came, but Golovkin has already given up two versions of the middleweight title.
It’s far more likely that number two Meiirim Nursultanov and Chris Eubank Jr. will be offered the opportunity for a WBC title shot in the first quarter of 2023.
Eubank is currently in talks to face Conor Benn and doesn’t seem likely to accept. This would then open the door for Maciej Sulecki, who is ranked number four.
However, with the WBC Convention around the corner, that could all change at the next WBC Ratings Committee meeting.
Phil Jay is an experienced boxing news writer.
Editor of World Boxing News since 2010.
