Jermell Charlo has responded to heavyweight legend Mike Tyson picking against him in his upcoming fight against Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez on September 20th.
When asked for his thoughts on the match up, Tyson envisaged the bigger man Canelo ‘overpowering’ undisputed super welterweight world champion Charlo, who will be moving up two weight classes for the fight.
However, when asked for a response to Tyson by TMZ, Charlo kept it respectful, describing the former undisputed heavyweight world champion as a ‘legend.’
“I don’t follow it. Mike Tyson is Mike Tyson, he can say whatever he wants, he’s a legend! So it’s cool. I’ve got a lot of honour and respect for Mike Tyson, he’s a legend.”
“I’m trying to be the greatest I can be, to go in there and try and get a dude like Canelo out of there. I don’t think I have anything to worry about.”
“But Mike Tyson is the man, he can say what he wants to say. But I’ve got to get in there and fight.”
Despite the current gap in weight classes between them, Canelo and Charlo campaigned at 154lbs at the same time and there is a view amongst some observers that the size differential may not be as significant as it would appear on the surface.
Couple that with the fact many in the sport believe the Mexican is a fighter on the decline, it would be foolish to completely write off the chances of Charlo at the T-Mobile Arena this autumn.
Should ‘Iron Man’ spring the upset in Las Vegas and be crowned undisputed in a second weight class, he would have a real shout for pound for pound number one status.