Undisputed super welterweight champion Jermell Charlo will jump up two weight classes to fight undisputed super middleweight champion Canelo Alvarez on September 30.
Alvarez was originally eyeing to fight Jermell’s twin brother Jermall, a middleweight, but Jermell stepped in once his brother was deemed a no-go.
Many pundits immediately billed Alvarez as a “weight bully,” but if you look at the measurables a bit closer, Charlo has considerable physical advantages.
The six-foot Charlo is four inches taller than Alvarez, has a near three-inch reach advantage, and is just two months older than the Mexican star.
Alvarez (59-2-2, 39 KOs) started his career as a 140-pound, 15-year-old in 2005.
Charlo (35-1-1, 19 KOs) kicked off his career at 147 pounds in 2007 and has fought exclusively at 154 pounds since 2011.
Charlo’s stablemate Errol Spence Jr. said his cohort should size up well against the four-division champion Alvarez.
“Jermell has got some size too. I feel he’ll mesh with the [168-pound] weight really well. He can’t just bulk up and get too big and then be sluggish,” Spence told Sean Zittel in an interview on FightHype.com.
“I think if he just walks around and waits, he’ll be just fine. I think he’ll be just fine. He’s big for their weight class. He can fight, and I think he’ll be more energetic at that higher weight. He can’t just sit around in front of Canelo and try and pick him off with shots and try to put fear in his heart. But I think Jermell is a big guy, so I think he’ll be just fine.”
The matchup between Alvarez and Charlo will mark boxing’s first-ever men’s undisputed champion vs. undisputed champion fight of the four-belt era.
The bout will take place in Las Vegas at a yet-to-be-announced venue on Showtime pay-per-view.
Manouk Akopyan is a sports journalist, writer, and broadcast reporter. He’s also a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America and the MMA Journalists Association. He can be reached on Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, and YouTube at @ManoukAkopyan, through email at manouk[dot]akopyan[at]gmail.com, or via www.ManoukAkopyan.com.