Undisputed super-welterweight champion, Jermell Charlo, has revealed that he was ‘astonished’ when he got the call to face Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez, the ruler of the super-middleweight division.
Middleweight champion and twin brother of Charlo, Jermall, was strongly linked to a clash with the Mexican 168lbs king, but when the announcement came, it was instead Jermell who would be facing Canelo, jumping up two weight divisions in the process.
In an interview with The Last Stand Podcast, Jermell Charlo spoke of his surprise at the unexpected phone call, and admitted that he felt for his brother, who would have taken the fight if he hadn’t have been inactive for the last two years.
“I was a little surprised, I knew that my brother should have been the main topic of that conversation but it’s just some type of way that I always find myself in those wars and if this is what it is and it’s with the best fighter in the world, I might as well go ahead and do that.
I was surprised, man, I was really astonished.”
Canelo-Charlo will take place in Las Vegas on September 30, when Alvarez will seek to make a third defence of his undisputed crown.
However, despite the event being billed as ‘undisputed versus undisputed’, Charlo will have to bear the burden of the WBO stripping him of his world title after failing to fight his mandatory challenger, Tim Tszyu.
The winner of the bout will not only become the undisputed super-middleweight champion, but they will also potentially secure a mammoth payday with pound-for-pound superstar, Terence Crawford, in the near future, after ‘Bud’ announced his intentions of stepping up three weight-classes to fight the victor.