Jermell Charlo has faced steep consequences following his decision to fight Canelo Alvarez, with the WBO stripping him on the same day he competed against Alvarez on September 30th last year, while the WBC took away his belt months after due to uncertainty on which division he would compete in. Since Charlo also eventually vacated his IBF title due to not being capable or willing to face mandatory contender Bakhram Murtazaliev, the former undisputed super welterweight champion is now set to lose his last world title; the WBA 154 lbs belt.
According to BoxRec, the now apparent vacant WBA super welterweight title will be made available for the March 8 bout between Uzbeki contender Israil Madrimov (9-0-1, 6 KO’s), and Russian contender Magomed Kurbanov (25-0, 13 KO’s). Boxing reporter Dan Rafael also revealed that the WBA is preparing to strip Jermell Charlo (35-2-1, 19 KO’s) of his WBA belt and position him as a champion-in-recess―which will enable him to fight for the WBA title at some point in the future, further signifying a change is bound to be made in the 154 lbs division.
The forfeiture of his WBA title would result in Jermell Charlo no longer being recognized as a world champion, drawing a close to what had previously been a highly-commendable career until Charlo’s lackluster performance against Canelo Alvarez (60-2-2, 39 KO’s) on September 30th.
In 2023, an already inactive Jermell Charlo had been expected to face WBO mandatory challenger Tim Tszyu (24-0, 17 KO’s), but an injury forced him on the sidelines and saw the planned March bout against Tszyu indefinitely postponed. Roughly half a year later, Charlo was announced to be facing Canelo Alvarez at super middleweight for all of Alvarez’ world titles; a decision that he would eventually come to rue as he would not only lose to Alvarez in a widely-criticized performance, but end up losing/vacating two of his super welterweight titles afterwards.
Now the WBA title is apparently next to fall out of Jermell Charlo’s hands, though the recent reports surrounding the WBA’s decision are not yet considered to be official. However, judging by how Charlo lost his titles in a rapid amount of time, there is little to suggest the former 154 lbs undisputed champion won’t eventually have his WBA belt forfeited.
While the decision of each sanctioning body that has stripped Charlo―or accepted the relinquishment of his belt―differs, there does appear to be a genuine downturn in interest to see the American super welterweight hold on to his titles. His decision to fight Alvarez had been a decision that Charlo had first rationalized as an attempt to “be great”, regardless of the repercussions that would follow due to an inability to fulfill his obligations as a world champion, but his performance against Alvarez suggested differently as he would go on to severely disappoint and fight contrary to the reasons he had chosen to fight Alvarez in the first place.
Given, Charlo’s previous match before Canelo Alvarez was in May of 2022, Charlo had already been flagrantly pushing the boundaries of the sanctioning bodies’ tolerance by the time he was set to face Tszyu due to being inactive, and when his match against Alvarez was announced he seemed to have sealed his fate―with the WBO being the first sanctioning body to announce before the fight that he would be stripped for choosing to face Alvarez rather than Tszyu.
Israil Madrimov and Magomed Kurbanov currently occupy the #1 and #2 spots respectively on the WBA’s super welterweight/junior middleweight ranking boards, making them the most deserving contenders to vie over the WBA title. Furthermore, their fight is set to occur on the undercard of the Joshua-Ngannou event which will further help the winner with exposure due to the attention expected to gravitate over the event.
With Charlo’s last title set to be vacated―or already vacated, the 154 lbs division is undergoing a remarkable quick change with Tim Tszyu already acknowledged as a WBO champion, while three other fights over the rest of the sanctioning bodies’ world titles are set to take place over the next two months.
Aside from next week’s fight between Madrimov and Kurbanov over the supposedly vacant WBA title, American former WBC interim champion Sebastian Fundora (20-1-1, 13 KO’s) and Ukrainian contender Serhhi Bohachuk (23-1, 23 KO’s) will be fighting over the vacant WBC super welterweight title on March 30th, while the IBF title will be contested over by longtime Russian IBF mandatory challenger Bakhram Murtazaliev (21-0, 15 KO’s) and German contender Jack Culcay (33-4, 14 KO’s) on April 6th.
