Who Is Reportedly Next In Line To Fight Jermall Charlo?
Jermall Charlo needs to defend his world title. He also wants to fight the best the middleweight division has to offer. According to his trainer, Charlo may end up facing a contender who has fought some of the top fighters in the world.
Charlo (30-0), the WBC Middleweight Champion, has been eyeing a fight with Canelo Alvarez, Gennadiy Golovkin, and Daniel Jacobs. Speaking with Premier Boxing Champions, trainer Ronnie Shields discussed the idea of Charlo facing off against the middleweight king in Canelo. He is hoping that a Canelo fight can happen while he still is at middleweight.
“I definitely want to see him fight Canelo. Jermall gets up for big fights. He knows how to get up for big fights. And this is a fight that he wants so bad. All fighters want to fight the best guys. In order to call yourself the best, you have to fight the best. Jermall has been asking for that fight for a long time. We really thought that one he became the number one contender, the fight would be easy to make,” Shields stated, via Boxing Scene.
The 30-year-old Charlo has defended his title three times. His last fight was in December 2019, beating Dennis Hogan via TKO. “Hitman” has gotten interest from fighters like Chris Eubank Jr. and Demetrius Andrade. Regarding the latter, the WBO Middleweight Champion has been calling Charlo out. “Boo Boo” recently called out Charlo for denying a $7 million payday.
Canelo could have faced Charlo before, but he was elevated to “franchise” champion before a bout could happen. While Canelo is on Team Charlo’s mind, Shields understands that Charlo needs to increase his workload before a Canelo fight. That is why Charlo has his eyes on another fighter who has been linked to Canelo.
“We’re just hoping and praying that one day we can get him,” Shields went on to say. “But in the meantime, we have to fight whoever they put in front of us. And right now we have a guy that’s ranked at number one in world right now, that’s Sergiy Derevyanchenko… we’re looking at him and I think right now he’s probably the frontrunner for who we’ll fight next. We just want to fight the best guys. Jermall says every day, he tells me every day ‘I just want to fight the best guys out there.'”
Following a twelve-fight win streak, Derevyanchenko (13-2) impressed against Daniel Jacobs in October 2018 inside Madison Square Garden’s Hulu Theater. Fighting for the IBF Middleweight Title, Derevyanchenko forced Jacobs to get back into the bout, and Jacobs ended up with a controversial split decision win. After rebounding with a win over Jack Culcay, Derevyanchenko faced Gennadiy Golovkin last October for the IBF and IBO Middleweight Titles. In another fight where it looked like Derevyanchenko was about to pull off the win, Golovkin ended up winning via unanimous decision.
There are reports that Derevyanchenko could end up facing Canelo in September, but nothing has been confirmed yet. As of now, Charlo is waiting for PBC to return to action.