Jermell Charlo is trying to tune out all the Terence Crawford noise.
The undisputed 154-pound champion from Houston, Texas, isn’t too keen on dwelling on a potential fight with the undisputed welterweight champion, since he has another considerable assignment coming up.
On Sept. 30, at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Charlo will move up two divisions to challenge Canelo Alvarez for his four 168-pound belts.
Talk of a possible Crawford-Canelo fight mushroomed in the wake of Crawford’s dominant ninth-round stoppage of Charlo’s friend and stablemate, Errol Spence Jr., last month at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. In a moment that went viral during the fight, Crawford taunted Charlo, who was sitting ringside. Since then, the native of Omaha, Nebraska, has repeatedly expressed his interest in taking on Charlo.
“I think that Terence Crawford could be on the marketing point,” Charlo said of Crawford’s call outs. “He could be using it that way, cuz I heard what y’all were saying. But Terence Crawford’s problem is he was never with the right people before this. He just got with the PBC, he just signed over and got with the right program. That’s why he was able to make that Errol Spence fight. You know what I’m sayin’? Now that he get his feet wet a little bit and he liking the promotion and he likin’ all of that, now he want to bite off a little bit [more] than he can chew, you know?
“I got Canelo to worry about, at 168, so why the hell am I [worried about Crawford]. We’ll talk about ’54 whenever we get done with this Canelo sh!t.”
Charlo, who will be stripped of one of his 154-pound titles as soon as the bell rings on Sept. 30 against Alvarez, said a fight with Crawford may even have to take place at 160, a division that neither fighter has fought in before. Charlo cited Spence’s eventual presence at 154 and his twin brother Jermall’s possible move up to 168 as reasons for settling down at the middleweight limit.
“We can’t even talk about 154 because you may have to meet me at another weight because my boy Errol going to 154 and my brother may be moving up to ’68 permanently,” Charlo said. “I might set up at ’60 or spend my career somewhere else. I been at ’54 a long time. I only been in two weight divisions. And I conquered that whole division. What else do I got to prove at that division?”
Crawford, at the moment, is waiting for a date for his rematch with Spence. On Thursday, it was revealed that Spence had exercised his option for an immediate rematch.
Sean Nam is the author of Murder on Federal Street: Tyrone Everett, the Black Mafia, and the Last Golden Age of Philadelphia Boxing.