Canelo Alvarez’ defence of his four super middleweight world titles against Jermell Charlo on September 20th will be the first time two reigning undisputed champions have fought each other in the four belt era.
That said, however, Hall of Fame boxer Tim Bradley does not appear to be giving light middleweight champion Charlo much of a shot against the Mexican star.
When asked for his thoughts on the match up by FightHype, former welterweight world champion Bradley described it as a “mismatch,” though conceded it would still be a huge commercial success.
“I personally think this fight is a mismatch. I still think it does astronomical numbers, because it’s Canelo Alvarez and he’s facing an African American
If anybody’s banking on Charlo to knock Canelo out, you can wish that goodbye. Because Canelo has one of the best chins in all of boxing
It’s going to be a tall, tall task for Charlo. But if he somehow pulls this off? Bow! Because he would cement himself as one of the pound for pound guys of today”
Alvarez has held all the marbles at 168lbs since his 2021 knockout win over Caleb Plant, whereas Charlo stopped Brian Castano to be crowned undisputed at light middleweight, 14lbs and two weight classes below Canelo, earlier in 2023.
Despite the weight classes between them, the two both fought at 154lbs at the same time and there is a view amongst some in the sport that the size differential may not be as significant as it would appear on the surface.
Canelo had been expected to take on Charlo’s twin brother Jermall, however he withdrew from negotiations at the last hour and ‘Mell stepped in.