The boxing landscape has changed after Terence Crawford’s (42-0, 31 KO’s) September 13th victory over Canelo Alvarez (63-3-2, 39 KO’s).
From playing down a fight with Crawford to now virtually pleading for a fight, humility has appeared to have dawned in former undisputed super welterweight (154 lbs) champion Jermell Charlo after his previous responses to Crawford were decisively dismissive.
Captured through a pre-match interview in April prior to his undisputed win over Brian Castano on May 4th in 2022, then-unified champion Charlo heavily disregarded a potential fight with Crawford:
“Crawford ain’t did s*** [at] 154 lbs,” Charlo stated after Terence Crawford was named as a potential future opponent during his pre-fight interview.
“How y’all want him to fight me? I’m telling y’all I’m trying to become undisputed right now. How are we talking about someone that ain’t even fought in the division? How did he just jump from there to there? Like, what connection [does] he got to this world?
“Maybe I’ll be the shotcaller, make the decisions on who I want to fight next. [Sebastian] Fundora, go fight somebody else. I don’t know. Crawford, y’all fight each other. I’m busy, motherf*****! I’m busy!“
With Charlo’s interview set roughly a year before Terence Crawford and Errol Spence Jr. fought each other on July 29th in their undisputed welterweight (147 lbs) bout, the notion of Crawford facing Charlo following his bout against Castano was then considered implausible by Charlo.
In 2023, Jermell Charlo went on to face Canelo Alvarez at super middleweight (168 lbs) on September 30th for all of the Mexican’s titles but stumbled onto a unanimous decision (UD) defeat. Having then made the leap from 154 lbs to 168 lbs, Charlo failed to impress in a lackluster performance that was highly criticized.
Since then, Charlo has been on a self-imposed hiatus for over two years and was forced to witness Terence Crawford make the same jump from junior middleweight to super middleweight and end up actually defeating Alvarez in one of his best career performances.
With Crawford now being in the position to play shotcaller and offer a potential fight to Jermell Charlo, the former 154-pound undisputed champion has recently emerged from the void of inactivity with a much humbler countenance as he kindly requested Crawford for a fight:
“If they gave me an offer to fight Crawford ― and me and Crawford, I talked to him one time ― it’d be an honor to get in the ring with him,” Charlo said through social media.
“Not just ’cause of that. Cause of what he’s done in the [ring], as [in] becoming undisputed. He completed something that I didn’t complete. And so, being in the ring with Crawford would be amazing. I’d give him the best fight of today’s era.
“I don’t think there’s no other fight in the boxing world for Crawford to make right now. The best fight really would be me.“
Jermell Charlo further asserted he would be the best possible opponent for Jaron “Boots” Ennis (35-0, 31 KO’s) who recently made his debut at 154 lbs against Uisma Lima (14-2, 10 KO’s).
Despite his confidence, Charlo would inevitably be faced with the onslaught of ring rust due to his inactivity which will make it difficult to assert himself as a worthy opponent for Crawford at any weight class.
While a fight against Ennis makes more sense given the Philadelphia-native has yet to face a noteable name or opponent, Charlo will likely be in need of a tune-up of sorts to get back into the swing of things and doesn’t hold anymore titles to spice up a potential bout.
