A miracle has occurred as the WBC has finally regained its senses after now-former WBC middleweight champion was arrested for driving while under the influence and other misdemeanors on Monday evening. Charlo no longer holds the WBC title after the sanctioning body took his latest incident into account and stripped him of the title on Tuesday, subsequently elevating Carlos Adames [from the Dominican Republic] to full WBC middleweight champion.
The decision by the WBC is more than long overdue, with Jermall Charlo (33-0, 22 KO’s) having not defended his title since 2021 and giving the WBC numerous reasons as to why he should have been stripped more than a year ago. However, it took Charlo’s latest DWI incident for the WBC to do their actual job in ensuring competitiveness and fairness within the sport.
Carlos Adames (23-1, 18 KO’s)―who has had no significant incidents and remained decently active since becoming the WBC 160 lbs interim champion in 2022―is now the WBC middleweight champion but will need to defend his title against a suitable contender if he wants to be considered a legitimate champion.
The WBC’s role in mishandling the ownership of the 160 lbs title cannot be fully understated, with the organization having neglected to step in when Charlo’s first in-ring appearance since 2021 saw him coming in overweight against Jose Benavidez Jr (28-3-1, 19 KO’s) on November 25th; an occurrence that should have already seen Charlo stripped if it wasn’t for the WBC inexplicably choosing not to make the title available to be defended in the first place.
Instead, concessions were made by the WBC to continue to allow Jermall Charlo to fight at 163 lbs [effectively super middleweight] without any repercussions, indicating blatant favoritism and suspected corruption on their part for a fighter that had not defended his title for approximately two years.
However, it has now taken Charlo’s latest DWI arrest for the sanctioning body to finally realize Charlo was not suited to be a champion; something he had already not been since neglecting to defend his title between 2021 and now.
The decision to promote Carlos Adames was expected, given he held the interim title which has the main purpose of elevating interim champions in case of incidents such as Charlo’s recent arrest, but this action doesn’t clear WBC of any wrongdoing as they have been the primary party at fault for choosing to keep Charlo as a champion.
Notably, the WBC’s official message surrounding this change adeptly obscured their own wrongdoing throughout the period Jermall Charlo had remained a champion without having a single title defense to his name since last fighting Juan Macias Montiel in 2021.
“The WBC Board of Governors has decided to confirm Carlos Adames as the WBC reigning middleweight champion as he is being elevated from interim champion to WBC World Champion,” The WBC stated in a public address. “The WBC will closely work with PBC in securing the best course of action to attend to Jermall needs at this moment in time.
“After a thorough evaluation of the situation and understanding of the facts and times the WBC may rank Jermall in [the] super middleweight [rankings]. Carlos Adames has been exemplarily supportive of every action taken by the WBC in support of his fellow peer throughout this time. Congratulations.“
While the WBC did not outright acknowledge Charlo’s recent arrest, their decision comes a day after he was held into custody; making their unwillingness to acknowledge their mistake in keeping Charlo as a world champion even more glaring.
The WBC is now expected to order Carlos Adames to face a suitable contender, with #1 WBC-ranked Kazakhstani middleweight Meiirim Nursultanov (20-0, 11 KO’s) likely to get the nod to face the Dominican in the near future.
In the meantime, it appears that Jermall Charlo will still be supported by the WBC who have mentioned positioning Charlo on their super middleweight ranking boards; which continues to signify there is a genuine agenda by the WBC to help PBC fighters. This can also be gathered of the WBC’s very mention of the PBC and their willingness to work closely with the promotion to provide support for Charlo and whatever issues he is going through; thereby explaining the WBC’s favoritism towards Charlo over the past two or three years, all while the division stagnated in the process as the WBC middleweight title ended up not being defended for almost three years.
