Mandalay Bay, Las Vegas – In a super middleweight contest, Jermall Charlo (33-0, 22 KOs) looked good in winning a dominant ten round unanimous decision over a game Jose Benavidez (28-3-1, 19 KOs). (photo by Ryan Hafey)
The scores were 98-92, 99-91 and 100-90.
Charlo, who currently holds the WBC middleweight title, was fighting for the first time since June of 2021, when he won a tough twelve round decision over Juan Macias Montiel.
The bigger of the two Charlo twins, was dealing with personal issues, injuries and mental health concerns.
Now that he’s back in the ring, Charlo aims to stay a lot busier in the upcoming new year.
After failing to make a catch-weight of 163 on Friday, it remains to be seen if he drops back down to middleweight.
“I’ll be back stronger, just know that. I thought about everything that I’ve been through every round. God’s got me,” Charlo said.
“I really want to thank the WBC for standing with me and going through what I went through with me, Mauricio [Sulaimán] and the whole team. I want to thank everybody who never left my side. I want to thank Al Haymon for understanding me. I know when you’re a man it’s hard to explain to somebody what you stand for, but I’m happy that I went through what I went through because I showed myself that anything can be done. And it is what it is.
“This division right here [is the most comfortable for me]. Whatever division I’m in, I’m going to conquer it. I’m going to do what I have to do. Bring me to the best place. I promise my fans are the people of boxing. To the people of boxing, I’ll be back. I’ll give you all more fights in 2024. I’m motivated by boos so keep booing. Shoutout to the Benavidez family. Thanks everybody.”