Cuban WBC middleweight world champion Carlos Adames put out a bold challenge to his contemporary rivals on social media yesterday in which he declared himself to be “open to fight any guy”, claiming that he would be available in December. Despite his assertions, Adames has not been thoroughly active over the past two years and with Premier Boxing Champions (PBC) having yet to announce a show for December, there are questions as to whether his challenge should merit any serious attention from other contenders or champions.
WBC middleweight (160 lbs) champion Carlos Adames (24-1, 18 KO’s) last fought on June 15th―on the undercard of the Davis-Martin PBC-organized event, defeating American contender Terrell Gausha (24-4-1, 12 KO’s) after being out of the ring for almost a year.
Adames’ fight prior had been a contest in 2023, nearly a full year before his 2024 bout against Gausha, and there were 8-month and 10-month gaps between his fights from 2022 to 2023 and 2021 to 2022 respectively. In essence, this meant Adames has fought only once a year since 2022, showing himself to be barely active―almost to the point of being considered an inactive fighter.
Unsurprisingly, this sort of inactivity has appeared normal amongst PBC fighters, with the likes of Jermall Charlo (33-0, 22 KO’s)―whose WBC title Adames attained earlier this year―being one of the most extreme examples in this case.
As such, his recent declaration only drew eyebrows as he asserted himself to be ready for any challenge:
“I’m open to fight any guy who wants to fight me,” Adames stated yesterday on Twitter/X. “I will fight in [December]. Step forward. I don’t change my schedule for anyone, I’m the champ. Is that clear?“
Despite Adames’ confidence, several factors seem to work against him when it comes to his availability and fearlessness. In regards to availability, Carlos Adames is heavily reliant on the scheduling of the PBC to which he is affiliated through TGB Promotions. With PBC’s only show remaining scheduled for October 19th, there is no indication there will be another event staged in the backend of this year―with early 2025 seeming more plausible for PBC to continue its scheduling.
When it comes to whether Carlos Adames is actually up to fight anybody in or out of his division is also disputable given WBO & IBF middleweight Kazakhstani champion Janibek Alimkhanuly (15-0, 10 KO’s) recently revealed Adames had appeared unwilling to actually fight him when presented with offers―thereby preventing a significant unification fight from occurring.
While there are rumors floating of a potential PBC event in December featuring WBA lightweight (135 lbs) champion Gervonta Davis (30-0, 28 KO’s)―which explains Adames’ assertion of fighting in December, he is unlikely to face an opponent of competitive significance. Likely candidates to face him would be limited to opponents signed with PBC through TGB Promotions―given their proclivity in staging in-house fights, which looking at the division makes Jermall Charlo the prime option. Otherwise, it would be likely Adames would face a relatively unknown opponent.
Charlo would fit the bill as an opponent given his standing as a former world champion. Though there is the matter of Charlo currently not being ranked in the top 15 of any of the sanctioning bodies’ rankings since being stripped of his WBC title, the WBC is expected to rectify this if a fight between Charlo and Adames would be arranged―due to their previous blatant favoritism towards Charlo.
Interestingly, Jermall Charlo does no longer appear to be the WBC champion-in-recess at 160 lbs since the sanctioning body’s latest September 19th update of their rankings [which would have enabled him to challenge Adames for his WBC world title without complications].
